NASCAR president Steve Phelps shared an interesting comment Saturday regarding the suspension of Chase Elliott.
Elliott was suspended for Sunday’s Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. due to his actions the previous week. Elliott appeared to wreck Denny Hamlin intentionally in a retaliatory move during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin called for Elliott to be suspended, citing Bubba Wallace’s actions against Kyle Larson in Las Vegas in 2022 as precedent for the discipline.
NASCAR complied during the week by suspending Elliott from driving the No. 9 Chevrolet in St. Louis, leaving Corey Lajoie to drive the car for the Enjoy Illinois 300.
Phelps told FOX NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass that they suspended Elliott because they felt they had to stick with the precedent set by the Wallace suspension.
“It would be difficult to have a conversation with Denny [Hamlin] or Bubba [Wallace] or someone else and say, ‘Hey, it was not OK for Bubba to do it and it’s OK for Chase to do it. … We hate it but it’s a call we needed to make,'” Phelps told Pockrass.
Steve Phelps to me yesterday on suspending Elliott: “It would be difficult to have a conversation with Denny or Bubba or someone else and say, ‘Hey, it was not OK for Bubba to do it and it's OK for Chase to do it. … We hate it but it's a call we needed to make.”
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 4, 2023
Phelps’ comment makes it seem like they didn’t really want to suspend Elliott but that they felt they had to in order to avoid the appearance of favoritism.
Hamlin was making the most of not having Elliott on the track Sunday and was in contention for much of the start of the race at St. Louis.
