Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch lost their 1-2 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono on Sunday because of tape that had been applied to the front of their cars.
The Joe Gibbs Racing duo was disqualified Sunday night during post-race inspection after NASCAR said their cars didn’t meet the rule book. The disqualifications meant that third-place Chase Elliott was declared the winner of the race hours after it was over.
JGR said Monday that it wouldn’t appeal the disqualifications and explained why the tape was there on the cars.
“In our review of the post-race infractions on the [Hamlin and Busch] cars at Pocono it was discovered that a single piece of clear tape was positioned over each of the lower corners of the front fascia ahead of the left-front and right-front wheel openings on both those cars,” JGR competition director Wally Brown said in a statement.