PA LONG POND Following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nos. 11 and 18, which had finished first and second hours earlier, were disqualified.
Initially, Kyle Busch finished second in the No. 18 car, just behind Denny Hamlin, who had flown to victory from the pole position for his third victory of the year. Chase Elliott, who had initially placed third in the Mandamp;Ms Fan Appreciation 400, was, however, deemed the winner following post-race inspection. Kyle Larson moved up to sixth, Tyler Reddick to second, Daniel Surez to third, and Christopher Bell to fourth.
The top 10 finishers were Michael McDowell, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, and Austin Dillon.
The front fascia on both JGR entries was identified by NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran as the cause of the problems that led to their disqualification.
A few problems were found that have an impact on the vehicle’s aero. The front fascia was the component, Moran said on Sunday. Furthermore, there was really no excuse for certain content to have been present where it wasn’t supposed to be, which essentially amounts to a DQ.
Both vehicles, according to Moran, have been put onto a NASCAR truck and will be returned to the sanctioning body’s Randamp;D facility for additional inspection.
By Monday, July 25 at noon, Joe Gibbs Racing will have the ability to contest the punishment.
Team owner Joe Gibbs issued a statement saying, “We were horrified to learn of the infringement that caused our two vehicles to fail NASCAR’s post-race technical inspection.” Every step of the procedure that resulted in this circumstance will be examined.
According to Moran, the findings from Sunday’s post-race inspection do not yet call for additional sanctions against the offending teams.
We observed enough to determine that the DQ was justified, and we are sending the vehicles back for additional inspection, according to Moran. We will thus examine both vehicles much more closely, but for the time being, we do not anticipate discovering anything new. But when we return to the Randamp;D Center, we’ll give them a closer inspection.
The discovery made on Sunday marks the first time a NASCAR Cup Series race winner has been disqualified since 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson (NC) Speedway was overturned due to an excessive fuel tank. That race was won by Joe Weatherly.
Since 2019, when NASCAR instituted harsher post-race inspection penalties, three winners have had their cars disqualified: Kyle Busch in the 2020 Texas NASCAR Xfinity Series, where Austin Cindric was declared the winner; Denny Hamlin in the 2019 Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series; and Ross Chastain in the 2019 Iowa Speedway NASCAR Truck Series (Brett Moffitt was declared the winner).
According to Moran, the series’ switch to the Next Gen vehicle resulted in stiffer regulations that contributed to this Sunday’s DQ.
It’s regrettable. We don’t want to be here discussing this, said Moran. A fantastic race just ended. The last thing we want to do is come back here later and discuss this issue. But everyone, even the teams and owners, is aware that this new car will be maintained with some rather strict limits, and there are some areas where we cannot continue down the same route as we did with the previous car.
Therefore, the new car and the stricter laws are somewhat to blame. Everyone has to comply by our new guidelines, which everybodys well aware of.
A total of 21 of the 160 laps, including the last 18 laps around the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track, were led by Hamlin. Busch led the most laps in the race, 63. On the 36-driver results sheet, they were demoted to the bottom two positions. This report was made possible by the staff.
