NASCAR Should Punish Cheating Heavily, But Don't Remove Wins After the Fact

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by Julian Spivey
Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Racing M&Ms Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 24. Then about two hours after the completion of the race he didn’t.

Hamlin was stripped of the win after his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed post-race inspection when according to NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran the front fascia of his car was illegal affecting the aerodynamics of his vehicle.

It’s the first time the winner of a Cup Series race has been disqualified since 1960.

Typically, when a race winner is DQ’d the victory would go to the second place finisher, which was Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, but Busch’s No. 18 Toyota also failed post-race inspection for the same reason and was also disqualified. Hamlin was credited with a 35th place finish and Busch was credited with a last-place 36th place finish.

Chase Elliott, who finished third at the end of the race’s 160 laps, was given the win by default despite not leading a lap during the entire race.

This is a horrible scenario for NASCAR for multiple reasons. The most obvious reason being the blatant cheating by one of the sport’s top teams. But the other reason is one I feel judging on tonight’s immediate social media takes that I’m going to be in the minority on. I don’t think NASCAR should’ve stripped the win from Hamlin.

My reasoning is going to be weird, so I hope this doesn’t get too confusing to follow.

I don’t want to condone cheating. So, I effectively would like everything positive about the win to be stripped from Hamlin’s team. I want him to receive zero points from the race (I assume he will get the usual six points for his now 35th place finish). I want the win to not count toward the playoffs. I was the entire No. 11 team (and No. 18) benched for next weekend’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (this is something that’s never been done in NASCAR). I want the crew chief’s of the No. 11 and No. 18 suspended for at least a month, which would basically be the suspension for losing a tire off the car during as race (so I’d argue more than a month could be fair), I want a massive points penalty. I want the biggest fine in the history of the sport. I want any and every punishment for this team other than stripping the win out of the record books.

Why?

Because when the race ended Hamlin was the driver who crossed the finish line first and I spent around three hours of my busy life watching this happen and so did millions of other viewers and so did thousands of fans who paid to attend the Pocono race.  

I don’t want Hamlin to be rewarded, but I don’t like the idea of sporting results changing hours after the end of the event. It makes the entire thing seem pointless.

I realize this will feel like condoning cheating to some. I’ve already been told on social media that a cheater winning makes the event pointless too. I truly don’t disagree with that. This is a horrible scenario for NASCAR to be in. But I can’t help feeling that I wasted my time on today’s Cup Series race at Pocono. I’d rather every possible penalty be levied at Hamlin and Busch after the fact instead of naming the guy I saw finish in third place the winner well after the fact.

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