Next Gen punishment.
Denny Hamlin did not win the M&M's Fan Appreciation 400. He is no longer the season's second three-time winner, no longer the lone all-time champion with seven wins, and no longer tied with Tony Stewart for 15th place on the all-time wins list. The future NASCAR Hall of Famer has a page in the stock car racing history book.
His victory was null and void. There was a person wiped out. It was deleted. It's not the first time that a racer at NASCAR's top level has had a victory taken away due to postrace technical inspection. The last time it happened was in 1960. We need to get used to it. The appeal deadline came and went without a fight on Monday, which seemed to be as much as they admitted.
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In the past, NASCAR has said it would do this. One day, it will happen. The sanctioning body promised to do more after facing criticism that it never did enough to punish those who used an illegal advantage to win a race. It has been this way until now.
Why right now? NASCAR has gone all-in as the chariot that will drive the sport into a better future because of the new Next Gen car. A one-size-fits-all parity creator is delivered to teams in a box. The result of years of research, tens of millions of dollars of investment and unprecedented cooperation between the three warring corporate car giants is these 2022, Chevy, Ford and Toyotas.
There is a chance that a race winner could be left out of the 16-team playoffs this fall, because that car has delivered a ridiculously competitive season, with 14 winners in 21 weeks, spread out across so many drivers and teams.
There would be dire consequences if teams messed with the Next Gen. They had previously said that. A large amount. In nearly 75 seasons of NASCAR Strictly Stock/Grand National/Cup Series racing, we were sent scrambling to find disqualifications of race days gone by.
In the very first Strictly Stock race, held in Charlotte on June 19, 1949, Glenn Dunnaway was flagged the winner, but had that victory taken away when postrace inspection revealed that his Ford was fashioned with reinforced "bootlegger springs". On April 17, 1960, Emanuel "Golden Greek" Zervakis was disqualified for using an oversized fuel tank, giving the win to Joe Weatherly.
This is it. The entire list is what it is.
The most tricked out race cars were not disqualified after that. The race winners of the 1960s didn't have fuel hidden all over. Not Darrell Waltrip's rides that held pounds of ball bearings in those same roll bars, unloaded from the car to lighten it up via a pulled lever as he shouted "Bombs away!" Running the wrong tires on the wrong side to gain grip and using an engine that was nearly 24 inches too large were two major violations that led to Richard Petty's 199th career win. The King was docked more than 100 points and fined a record amount.
During the 1990s and 2000s, fines increased. The term "encumbered" was used by NASCAR as they refused to take away wins but pointed to fines and penalties. "I'm sure that the guilt you feel is far worse than any punishment you might receive" was what the teacher told the group.
No one felt guilty because they didn't lose their trophy. There wasn't one. The last time was on Sunday.
Hamlin was removed from the top of the box score because his No. 11 Toyota Camry had something hidden in the nose that was deemed impermissible by the NASCAR rule book. It feels like nothing compared to the old-school cheat-ups of the past. Competitors do. It wasn't caught in the pre race inspection because it was hidden under the car's vinyl wrap, but it is afterwards.
Brad Moran, director of the NASCAR Cup Series, said there was no reason why Hamlin should have been disqualified at the end of the race. Both vehicles had the same issue. They were not good enough to pass inspection.
Hamlin and Busch finished second and third, respectively. The win went to third-place finisher ChaseElliott, his fourth victory of the year and the strangest of his career.
When talking to the NASCAR media on Monday, he didn't know what to say. He admitted that he didn't know how to feel other than that he didn't celebrate.
I don't think any driver would want to do that. The championship points leader admitted that he did not. I won't be celebrating someone's misfortune. It doesn't make sense to me. I crossed the line three times. I'm looking at it that way.
He wouldn't say how he was going to get the trophy back from Hamlin. He could keep it if he wanted to.
Good thing, because on Sunday night, Hamlin shared a photo of his daughter waving the checkered flag, just as she did during his victory lap, riding shotgun in her father's winning race car.
Yeah, good luck getting that back. https://t.co/f1X8vISlzS
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) July 25, 2022
The record book shows that Hamlin finished 35th. The result of the paychecks will be reflected in the teams. Even down at the Dawsonville Pool Room, they have officially recognized their favorite son as the winner, blowing the whistle on Sunday night.
I think it's all weird. It's weird because we didn't think it would happen. We didn't think it would happen. They didn't expect it. Why would he do something like that? How come they would? None of us had ever seen it before, unless you were one of the 5000 people at the Wilson speedway.
It feels like it will be the last time. We know it won't happen because racers will always look for advantages in the gray areas. They need to. They've always taken that task very seriously.
NASCAR has a responsibility to catch them and punish them if they do. NASCAR seems to be taking that assignment very seriously.
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