Denny Hamlin who has won two NASCAR Cup Series races this season will lose his crew chief, car chief and engineer for the next four races after NASCAR delivered a post-race penalty following Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.
For the “loss or separation of added ballast,” crew chief Chris Gabehart, car chief Brandon Griffeth and engineer Scott Simmons have been suspended from Charlotte’s Wednesday night race, Sunday’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, the Jun. 7 race at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and the Jun. 10 race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Before Sunday’s Crown Jewel event at Charlotte went green, two pieces of tungsten ballast fell out of the back of Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota as he was exiting pit road and driving onto the race track.
At least one car, Aric Almirola ran over at least one piece, which damaged his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang.
Hamlin spent the opening eight laps of the race on pit road to replace the tungsten that dislodged from his race car.
The Daytona 500 winner initially finished 30th, seven laps down from race winner Brad Keselowski, but was later credited with 29th after second-place finisher Jimmie Johnson was disqualified for a post-race infraction.
According to FOX Sports, Joe Gibbs Racing will not appeal the suspension. The team’s race engineer, Sam McAulay, will crew chief and Eric Phillips will car chief — they both were not on the Charlotte roster as part of the limitations. Scott Eldridge will be added as a mechanic.
"That's a big, big deal and a huge safety concern."- @JeffGordonWeb on Denny Hamlin's car dropping ballast. pic.twitter.com/EM5lmuHRCp
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 24, 2020
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