You’ve got to hand it to Denny Hamlin, he doesn’t mince words.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver revealed during his “Actions Detrimental” podcast on Monday that he thinks Joey Logano’s penalty at Atlanta for wearing an illegal gove during qualifying came after someone in NASCAR paddock snitched on him.
Logano had to start the race from the back of the pack and do a drive-through penalty after he was discovered using a glove with webbing between the thumb and forefinger to direct air around the car during qualifying for the Ambetter Health 400.
NASCAR determined the modified glove violated safety rules because they hadn’t been certified under the SFI standards that govern the clothing and equipment used in most racing series.
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“I’m willing to say there was a whistleblower,†Hamlin said.
“These teams tell on each other, for sure. For those of you who don’t know, teams, they call it a self-policing sport because when we’re sitting next to each other and watching videos of other cars. The NASCAR Cup Series is full of snitches. I mean, all over the place. They tattle tell. If they see something that someone is doing that is illegal or skirting the rule, they’ll tell the tower right away.”
The glove can clearly be seen on the in-car footage from qualifying and there are indications that he was wearing it during his Daytona 500 pole position qualifying run.
It appears from the less clear video that the glove may be equipped with the webbing and Logano removes it immediately after he finishes the run.
It’s possible Logano and Team Penske could face additional sanctions for the infraction, but NASCAR has not yet made any follow-up statements regarding the incident.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for its next race on Sunday, March 3.
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