NASCAR delivers penalty verdict on Denny Hamlin vs Ross Chastain battle

NASCAR has warned teams that they could be penalized if officials believe that they have manipulated races to manoeuvre their rivals out of the picture.

The topic was raised after Sunday's dramatic Cup Series elimination race at the Roval, with Denny Hamlin having the chance to knock reigning champion and Phoenix specialist Joey Logano out by simply sitting behind Ross Chastain on the final lap.

NASCAR managing director of communications Mike Forde revealed on the Hauler Talk podcast this week that despite all the machinations and last-lap drama, the outcome – Logano going through, with the Trackhouse Racing man eliminated – would likely have been the result anyway.

Forde admitted that NASCAR officials would've had to determine whether Chastain's outrageous last corner move – coming from a different zip code to pitch himself and Hamlin into a spin before throwing his car into reverse to get over the line – would've been treated more harshly than his famous Hail Melon move from three years ago.

“It’d be tricky,” Forde admitted. “Is that an aggressive move to try to take a position when you have no other options? Or is that over the line? And that’s something we would have to determine in race control, but we would certainly have to look at it if it was successful.”

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Hamlin did pass Chastain, who was knocked out, but remonstrated with his team immediately after the race, revealing that he hadn't been given the crucial information about one of his key championship rivals' fate being in his hands.

As it happens, that might've been a blessing in disguise – with Forde warning that officials would step in if they 'see something or hear something' contrary to the spirit of racing.

“At a certain point during this week, we will just remind teams, ‘Let’s not put yourselves or ourselves in jeopardy here'. Fans should be coming to the race track and expecting a straight-up race where each position is fought for as hard as possible, especially at the end of a race.

“If we do see something or hear something we don’t like, we are going to step in, which we’ve have done now several times. So we are aware, and if we hear something, we will certainly react if necessary.”

Forde went into the Hamlin case specifically, adding: “I think we would have looked into it for sure. If we heard that radio transmission say, ‘Hey, (Chastain) needs this point to advance to the next round over (Logano)’ or something of that ilk, and all of a sudden, (Hamlin) let off the gas, that would probably raise a red flag on our side.”

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