AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — NASCAR bristled at the notion race fans might be skeptical if Denny Hamlin is penalized at any point in the title-deciding finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Hamlin is in the final four of Sunday’s winner-take-all race as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. As co-owner of 23XI Racing, he’s entangled in a contentious antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR that is hurtling toward a Dec. 1 trial.
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He has maintained that NASCAR and its at-track officials have treated both Hamlin and 23XI fairly with no bogus penalties and no increased scrutiny on the teams as their cars go through inspection.
But, Hamlin has a longtime problem with speeding on pit road and has been flagged for it five times through 37 races. NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell sternly answered “No” when asked if there was any concern that fans might claim a conspiracy if Hamlin is penalized for any reason on Sunday.
O’Donnell was then asked why he was so certain fans wouldn’t be skeptical of a NASCAR penalty against Hamlin. He touted the officiating.
“We have all the technology in place. We have an unbelievable officiating team. I think that question actually is a bit absurd,” O’Donnell said. “I’m pretty confident in the decisions we’ll make and the transparency we’ve had throughout the year.”
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Hamlin himself thinks the No. 11 Toyota will be treated fairly Sunday, as he and the 23XI lineup have been all year.
“I don’t think they could possibly think to do anything, I just think that would be counterproductive to anything going on,” Hamlin said. “I would also say that over the last year, I feel like they’ve been very fair to me. They’ve separated the two and whether they may not like Denny the car owner, that might be one thing. But I feel like they’ve treated me very fairly as a driver.”
Earlier in Friday’s annual “State of the Sport” news conference, O’Donnell praised the officiating this year and noted that the last two consecutive years he’d been questioned at the same media event about “officiating questions, about missed calls, bad calls.”
But, O’Donnell said that under senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer, he can’t think of a single time this season that Sawyer has had to defend an officiating call.
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“I want to give a bit of a tribute to the team,” O’Donnell said. “I think those guys deserve acknowledgment for doing a hell of a job throughout the year. I think our competitors would share that, as well.”
Conspiracies aside, there’s still the matter of how NASCAR will feel if Hamlin does win the championship, is presented with the Cup by one of their top executives, and then sit across a federal courtroom from NASCAR in one month.
The trophy presentation has previously been made by Steve Phelps, who was president at the time but was promoted to commissioner of NASCAR this year. NASCAR chairman Jim France, who is named in the lawsuit, has never presented the trophy, although his nephew did when Brian France was chairman.
Hamlin laughed at the potentially awkward situation.
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“All it would do is probably make people tune-in for the trophy presentation,” Hamlin said. “I shake hands with Phelps most weekends. I don’t know how it’s really any different. I shake hands with Jim in the courtroom, too. Is it awkward? Yeah, probably. But to me, it’s not a big deal.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
