Drama at the Triangle: Denny Hamlin DQ’d, Chase Elliott wins at Pocono

The NASCAR Season has hit crunch time for many drivers and teams trying to get into the playoffs with the next stop at the tricky triangle, Pocono Raceway. Not to mention with this being the lone trip to the track, as the track had traditionally hosted two Cup Series races from 1982 to 2021, with the last two seasons being a doubleheader.

One of the biggest stories heading into the Cup race involved the driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Kurt Busch. After wrecking in practice on Saturday, Kurt Busch was not cleared by NASCAR’s Infield Care Center to race and may have concussion-like symptoms. This led to the 19-year-old phenom, Ty Gibbs, making his Cup Series debut in Kurt’s absence. Gibbs had never turned laps in the Cup car before 12:28 pm EST on Sunday and had limited simulation time until 1:00 am that morning. Despite the hectic last-minute situation, Gibbs was able to wheel the No. 45 Toyota to a 16th-place finish. An impressive result regarding the situation at hand.

“I’ll take that,” Gibbs said after the race. “I still wish I could have put it together a little bit quicker, but these are experiences for me in my life that I’ll just take hold of and always remember how it felt.”

When the checkered flag waved, the first driver to get to it was Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Toyota. However, that didn’t come without an incident that ended up pouring fuel to the fire between Hamlin and Ross Chastain. A feud that dates back to early June at WWT Raceway at Gateway. With 18 laps to go, Hamlin collided with Chastain as they were battling for the lead, putting Chastain into the wall and losing control. Hamlin would hold on for the final restart and win the race and his teammate Kyle Busch finished in second… for now.

“What did you want me to do? What did you expect me to do?” Hamlin said. “I got position on him, and he just ran out of race track.”

What did Hamlin have to say about whether the feud was over between the two? Here’s his answer, “We’re gonna just keep racing hard until we get the respect back from these guys. And it’s not just that. We’ve been wrecked four times, twice while leading in the last 10 months and I’m at the end of it.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Ross Chastain spoke after the incident about his thoughts about what occurred.

“That’s something that’s been coming to me for a few months now,” Chastain said of expecting retribution. “I’m proud of the effort by Trackhouse. To keep bringing fast cars like that is a testament to GM and Chevrolet. It was a really fast one and we’ll be back at Indy.”

Following post-race inspection, it was revealed that the front facia had material that it should not have been for both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Both No. 11 and No. 18 teams failed post-race inspection and had to forfeit their positions, now giving the victory to Chase Elliott, making that his fourth win of the 2022 season.

After walking out of the NASCAR Media Center, saying that he couldn’t celebrate the misfortune of others. He also said NASCAR’s desire for not “over-engineering” cars is like asking a football player not to practice. Believing that limits will continue to be pushed for sure.

After a Zoom call Monday after the race, he talked about the incident between Hamlin and Chastain.

“I honestly thought Denny was pretty nice about it,” Elliott said. “He did run him up the track a little bit but he still left him some room there on exit after it was all said and done. I thought all things considered, he [Hamlin] was pretty kind about what went on there.”

With five races left in the regular season, Chase Elliott now has a 100-point lead over Ross Chastain and a 108-point lead over Ryan Blaney, who has yet to win this season. With two spots remaining for points, Blaney could miss the playoffs if there are two more different winners by Daytona.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Brickyard next at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the Verizon 200. The race will start at 2:30 pm EST and will be aired on NBC and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. AJ Allmendinger won this race a year ago, giving Kaulig Racing their first win in the NASCAR Cup Series and giving himself his first win in the series since 2014 at Watkins Glen.