After NASCAR controversy Chase Elliott, the declared winner at Pocono, says Denny Hamlin can keep the trophy
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- Denny Hamlin won the Pocono race on Sunday but had the victory taken away after being DQ'd later.
- Third-place finisher Chase Elliott was declared the winner after Kyle Busch also failed inspection.
- Elliott said he doesn't feel like he earned the win and won't ask for the trophy from Hamlin.
Chase Elliott already has 17 race wins and one championship in his young career but don't expect his latest victory to be displayed with his other trophies anytime soon.
NASCAR declared Elliott the winner of Sunday's Pocono race after first-place finisher Denny Hamlin and runner-up Kyle Busch each failed post-race inspections and were disqualified. Elliott crossed the line third and was given the win about 90 minutes after the checkered flag waved.
On Monday, Elliott finally got his "winner's" press conference and was asked how he would get the trophy from Hamlin. The defending NASCAR champ said Hamlin could keep it.
"Honestly, if he wants to keep it, he can keep it," Elliott said. "As far as I am concerned, he crossed the finish line first ... I didn't really feel like I earned it on track yesterday, so if he wants to keep it, I'm good with that. I'm not going to ask for it."
—Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 25, 2022
Elliott also said he had no plans to celebrate the win.
"I don't know [if] it's really a win I am going to celebrate anyway," Elliott said. "I don't really feel right celebrating somebody else's misfortune.... It's not necessarily something I'm proud of or something I'm going to boast about."
He later added: "No race car driver wants to win that way."
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This was the first time in more than 60 years that NASCAR had disqualified the winner after a race.
NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran offered some insight into the cause of the disqualification, saying some material was found where it shouldn't have been.
"There was some issues discovered that affect [aerodynamics] of the vehicle," Moran said. "The part was the front fascia, and there really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere that it shouldn't have been, and that does basically come down to a DQ."
The "fascia" refers to the front bumper and grille of the cars. According to Bob Pockrass, it appears NASCAR found some extra material underneath the cars' "paint," which is actually a wrap these days. This also explained why the infraction was not found during the pre-race inspection.
"NASCAR says the issues weren't found in prerace tech because they don't take the wrap off during prerace tech," Pockrass wrote. "Taking the wrap off in certain places is part of postrace tech."