{"id":302343,"date":"2023-05-31T00:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T00:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302343"},"modified":"2023-05-31T03:01:25","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T03:01:25","slug":"nascar-driver-banned-for-savage-intentional-wreck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=302343","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR driver banned for 'savage' intentional wreck"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR<\/a> has suspended Chase Elliott for one race, less than a day after the five-time most popular driver and former Cup Series champion deliberately wrecked Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement it will not appeal the suspension and Corey Lajoie will replace Elliott in the No.9 Chevrolet this weekend at Gateway, outside of St Louis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand NASCAR\u2019s need to maintain consistency in its officiating,\u201d Hendrick Motorsports said in a statement.<\/p>\n

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Elliott denied deliberately crashing Hamlin with a dangerous left hook into Hamlin\u2019s car, described by NASCAR commentator Mike Joy as a "savage" crash, during the rain-rescheduled race on Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"Denny<\/p>\n

Hamlin countered with simulated data he posted on social media after the crash, then double-downed on calls for Elliott to be suspended on his podcast.<\/p>\n

Hamlin owns the car driven by Bubba Wallace, who was suspended one race last year for deliberately hooking Kyle Larson in a race in Las Vegas. The move is considered one of the most dangerous in NASCAR.<\/p>\n

NASCAR suspended Elliott under a section of rulebook covered under \u201cMember Code of Conduct".<\/p>\n

Among the rules covered in that section is \u201cremoving another competitor from championship contention in a dangerous manner when not racing for position based on the available evidence and specific circumstances of the incident".<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/dennyhamlin\/status\/1663330151961178114<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an intentional act by Chase in our opinion in our view after reviewing all of the available resources,\u201d said NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer on Sirius NASCAR Radio.<\/p>\n

Hamlin said he was so furious after the wreck he wanted to fight Elliott, claiming his counterpart had a \u201ctantrum\u201d on the track and \u201cshouldn\u2019t be racing next week. Right rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable".<\/p>\n

Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion and son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, denied wrecking Hamlin intentionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you hit the wall in these things, you can\u2019t drive them anymore,\u201d Elliott said after emerging from the infield care centere.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo unfortunately not, no, just an unfortunate circumstance.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/DirtyMoMedia\/status\/1663596294009389061<\/a><\/p>\n

Hamlin on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, said the act by Elliott was absolutely deliberate payback for earlier contact between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no explanation that he could possibly give, which he didn\u2019t have a reason for hanging left. You know he obviously didn\u2019t want to admit it,\u201d Hamlin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pointed out in the data that I tweeted that once he got into the wall, there was nothing wrong with his car.<\/p>\n

"He\u2019s turned the wheel back straight, like he was going down the straightaway, and you can tell by data whether you\u2019ve got toe link damage or not,\u201d Hamlin continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone hits the wall. But he threw a hissy fit and he just hung the left on us in the most dangerous part of the racetrack that you possibly could and it ended my day and his, and in my opinion, he shouldn\u2019t be racing next weekend. Because NASCAR set a precedent last year on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott\u2019s loss could impact TV ratings and attendance this weekend. He is the fan-voted most popular driver in the past five years.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASCAR\/status\/1663592466144952323<\/a><\/p>\n

After Elliott broke his leg in a snowboarding incident, the sport\u2019s TV ratings took a nosedive. And when Elliott was deemed healthy enough to race at Martinsville, NASCAR recognized its importance and hurried to promote his return on social media and with commercials.<\/p>\n

Because he'd already missed so many races because of his leg injury, Elliott was already in a deep hole to make the playoffs. Elliott was ranked 29th after Saturday night, and the top 16 drivers make the playoff field. A win earns an automatic berth. The suspension marks seven races missed by Elliott.<\/p>\n

Elliott will most certainly need to win his first race of the season when he returns from suspension to have any chance at making the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"Chase<\/p>\n

Before the suspension was announced Hamlin implored NASCAR to \u201cdo the right thing\u201d on his podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe consistent here. It\u2019s time to make the right call. There is no excuse you can give,\u201d Hamlin added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was going dead straight and then all of a sudden he takes a hard left 120 degrees with the steering wheel. That is not an accident. It is intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin called the move immature.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is childish and it just (ticks) me off,\u201d Hamlin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be better than that. I don\u2019t give a (darn). What goes on in your mind to think that is the right move to make, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Denny<\/p>\n

Hamlin also said on his podcast that as a car owner he wants to see Wallace focus on his accomplishments on the track which includes four top-five finishes in the past four races, rather than making news off of it.<\/p>\n

Wallace was seen feuding during a rain delay Monday with Aric Almirola, who shoved Wallace before the two were broken up by NASCAR security.<\/p>\n

A week earlier Wallace received criticism when he used an obscene gesture in a television interview after the All-Star race.<\/p>\n

NASCAR did not punish Wallace, saying the incident wasn\u2019t malicious.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s out of style,\u201d Hamlin said of the hand gesture. \u201cWhoever still does it needs to stop. Stop doing it. It\u2019s childish. … It\u2019s just not worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASCAR has suspended Chase Elliott for one race, less than a day after the five-time most popular driver and former Cup Series champion deliberately wrecked […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":302345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=302343"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302349,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302343\/revisions\/302349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/302345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=302343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=302343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=302343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}