Home

NASCAR

The NASCAR Drivers Before Chase Elliott Who Won a Race Without Leading a Single Lap

Published 07/26/2022, 12:15 PM EDT

Follow Us

USA Today via Reuters

At the Pocono Raceway, something unprecedented happened. Chase Elliott inherited the win after race winner and runner-up, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, were disqualified. What made Elliott’s official win so amazing was the fact that he did not lead a single lap. Interestingly, this is not the first time such a situation has cropped up in NASCAR, in the Cup Series.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

As it turned out, Cole Custer and Brett Moffitt inherited race wins after the winners were disqualified. Both of those happened during the 2019 Xfinity Series season at Darlington and at Iowa, respectively. Ironically, Custer inherited the Darlington win after Hamlin got disqualified. Meanwhile, Moffitt inherited his win after race winner Ross Chastain was disqualified on technical grounds.

The Last Time Denny Hamlin Got Disqualified for Technical Infringements

Denny Hamlin owns an unfortunate NASCAR record because of Chase Elliott

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

It is also worth noting that the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver is the first race winner to be disqualified in more than 60 years. This will undoubtedly be a statistic that he would not want to own. Nevertheless, one man’s devastation is another man’s elation, and the big winner was Chase Elliott. Meanwhile, it was a disaster for Hamlin and his teammate Kyle Busch.

USA Today via Reuters

On the bright side, they probably do not have to worry about being eliminated from playoff contention. However, for the sake of personal pride, they would want to nab a couple more wins. Additionally, they will be hoping that there are no more new winners, as we already have 14 different race winners.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

The Quint-Essential NASCAR Newsletter

WATCH THIS STORY: Ex-employee of Brad Keselowski’s RFK Racing Joins Hands With “Michael Jordan & Denny Hamlin’s” NASCAR Team

With a grand total of 16 Playoff spots, the competition is fierce, and just five races are remaining. So, every non-qualified driver will be hard at work trying to snatch the final two spots. At the same time, the drivers at risk will be hoping that there are repeat winners who won’t eliminate them from the running.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Dhruv George

14,311Articles

One take at a time

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.
Show More>

Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh