NASCAR Journalist Helps Absolve Hendrick Motorsports & Chase Elliott of Any ‘Cheating’ Accusations

Published 05/03/2022, 1:58 PM EDT

At the Dover International Speedway, Chase Elliott finally reached Victory Lane. However, some eagle-eyed fans noticed a few odd things about his car. To be precise, there was a piece of tape sticking to the front grille of the #9 Chevrolet car. Normally, this would have prompted an investigation and a black flag. However, the 2020 Cup Series champion managed to get off scot-free.

I know there have been questions about this piece of tape on Elliott grille. Checked in with someone from a non-Chevy organization and was told it looks like a piece of tape that came off the track (not placed by team) and if anything, it would make performance worse, not better. pic.twitter.com/9q8E4aB8xg
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 2, 2022

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Admittedly, this did not sit well with a few fans, especially since Kyle Busch got into trouble a few races ago. Busch also had a piece of tape sticking to his front grille and got a black flag for it. So, it baffled many that Elliott managed to escape even a reprimand for it. Some would suggest that NASCAR was being partial to Hendrick Motorsports, but Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass issued a clarification.

What did he say about Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports at Dover

As it turned out, Pockrass spoke to a non-Chevrolet employee on the matter. Obviously, he wanted to eliminate the element of bias to his investigation. According to the employee, the tape probably came while Elliott was on the track.

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In other words, the team did not put it there, unlike what happened with Kyle Busch. Also, the tape’s presence would have only hindered the car’s performance on the race track. In the end, the #9 driver went on to take his first Cup win of the season.

However, many fans were not convinced and groused that Hendrick Motorsports followed different rules. In Kyle’s case, he had every reason to be hopping mad, because the tape was left on the car early in the race. Unfortunately for him, nobody noticed it until the closing laps of the race. This was just as he was in a position to try and challenge for the race win. The forced pitstop dropped him well down the order and left him with very little time to mount a comeback.

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Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.