Denny Hamlin to Lose Crew Chief, Car Chief and Engineer For Four Races After Losing Ballast
As expected, after Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry launched a couple of tungsten ballasts out from under it during the pace laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR has handed out severe penalties to the Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Crew chief Chris Gabehart, car Chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons have all been suspended for the next four NASCAR Cup Series events.
NASCAR senior Vice President of competition Scott Miller Stopped by SiriusXM NASCAR radio to discuss why the penalty for dropping a ballast is so severe.
“That’s a very, very severe safety thing,” said Miller. “Those chunks of ballast are huge. We have actually seen those hit race cars. Fortunately, we haven’t had any injuries from it.”
Hamlin, who has two wins so far in 2020, finished 29th in Sunday’s race, eight laps off the pace.
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Toby Christie View All
Toby is the Founder, Editor and go-to man for TobyChristie.com. He is also the co-host of The Final Lap Weekly Podcast. Additionally, Toby is a NMPA (National Motorsports Press Association) award winning writer, and has followed NASCAR as a fan since 1993.
this is just pure insanity at best WHY ??? does guys like Gibbs and Hendrick etc put up with this Crap I just don’t get it
its just pure BS
It’s very clearly in the rule book what the consequences of this would be. Clearly written out.