NASCAR released it’s weekly post-event penalty report on Monday, and included was the expected penalty for the Team Penske team member who tossed Denny Hamlin to the ground in a post-race altercation following Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Dave Nichols Jr., who is the tire specialist for Joey Logano’s No. 22 team, has been suspended for one race by the sanctioning body for his part in the chaos.
Related: Watch Denny Hamlin get thrown to the ground by Team Penske Employee After Martinsville Race
NASCAR’s Steve O’Donnell made an appearance on Monday morning’s Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Morning Drive, and he states that the sanctioning body would be taking a stand against what happened on Sunday afternoon.
“I think in this case, you’ve got a crew member who was maybe trying to break it up but certainly an aggressive move that we viewed on our part and unfortunately we’ll probably have to take some action to address that later today or tomorrow,” O’Donnell said.
Logano’s crew chief Todd Gordon shouldered the blame for the incident when he talked to Sirius XM later in the morning, as he felt he shouldn’t have let Logano confront Hamlin after the race.
“I probably take some of the ownership myself to start with,” Gordon said. “Stopped Joey when he got out of the car and he’s frustrated. He got run up in the wall with 50 to go and was frustrated about it and justifiably so. I went back and rewatched it. He pretty much got put in the wall on a straightaway. There’s frustration with that.
“Stopped Joey at the car and said we just don’t need to handle that right now and let his emotions get down, and I thought they were at a point where he could go talk. Unfortunately, in the conversation there got to be a push.
2 Responses
glad someone is paying the price I think at the beginning of each year all NASCAR Employees, drivers and teams should be given manner lessons.
I respect Todd Gordon for trying to cover for his driver. But where were you when your driver deliberately drove Denny into the wall and severely injured Denny, then bragged about wrecking Denny on purpose. That incident last Sunday was not on purpose, then Joey had the adasity to shove Denny. The crew member should never have put his hands on Denny. Joey should not have written the check his ads couldn’t cash.