Denny Hamlin questions NASCAR for not taking action with hole in Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s door

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took the checkered flag in a photo finish at Talladega on Sunday, but something stood out about his No. 47 Chevrolet after the race.

Stenhouse had a significant-sized hole on the driver side of his car stemming from the record 28-car accident with five laps remaining in the race. The hole damaged the mandated protective foam, which must be replaced in accordance with the NASCAR Rule Book. Obviously, NASCAR didn’t force Stenhouse down to pit road for repairs and he went on to win the race by .006 seconds.

Denny Hamlin calls out NASCAR in Ricky Stenhouse Jr. controversy

Speaking on Monday’s “ Actions Detrimental ” podcast, Denny Hamlin took NASCAR to task for not upholding its own rules and forcing Stenhouse to come down pit road.

“So, your race winner had a huge hole in his left side door,” Hamlin said. “He had some door foam missing, he had a hole in his door. This is where I think common sense would come into play, however, you do have rules. Do I think that the 47 should have come down and put Bear Bond over his door? Yes, by the letter of the law. That’s why you make rules, so you have protocols, and you enforce those rules. But they didn’t, and when I hear Elton Sawyer talking after the race that it was news to him that the 47 had a hole in his door, I’m not really sure what we’re doing.

“It just seems like I hear constantly from NASCAR a lot of ridiculous reasoning behind calls that they make saying, ‘We didn’t know, we didn’t have a good angle, we can’t judge.’ Like, you have the resources to do it, why aren’t you? Eventually you have to hold your sanctioning body accountable to say, ‘You gotta do better.’ Do I think there’s a safety problem with the 47 from what I saw? I do not… The issue is the rules. They didn’t follow the rules.”

Elton Sawyer addresses hole in Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s car at Talladega

As listed in Section 3.3.3.7 of the Cup Series Rule Book:

• A. Energy absorbing (EA) foam blocks must be installed on the outside surface of the left and right side door.
• B. Door foam that has been damaged or crushed must be replaced. Effective May 4, 2022, door foam that is missing skin (including all machined foams) must be replaced.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, fielded questions about the hole in Stenhouse’s car after the race. Fortunately for Stenhouse and his team, Sawyer had no clue.

“That’s news to me, the first I’ve heard of it,” Sawyer said. “I can’t comment on that because I don’t know.”

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