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.