NASCAR's penalty on 23XI driver Bubba Wallace became the center of controversy at Atlanta on Sunday after it changed his race result from second to 29th. Team co-owner Denny Hamlin has now weighed in on the same.

During the Quaker State 400 race at EchoPark Speedway, Wallace was penalized for crossing the double yellow line. Post-race, he highlighted that he was hit by Ty Gibbs from the back, and to avoid crashing into the leaders, he took a quick left that sent him below the line.

On Monday's episode of the "Actions Detrimental" podcast, Hamlin was asked about his opinion on the penalty. However, he clarified that he is not involved in dealing with issues like these, which are handled by their Head of Competition, Dave Rodgers.  

"I mean, when I watched it, I was thinking that that's definitely going to be a penalty because I've been penalized for it before, so I know and understand the rule and that it's not that you gain a position but you can't put yourself into position to gain a position," Hamlin said on his podcast.

He further explained why he sided with NASCAR’s verdict. Hamlin said, 

"It's not literal in the sense of advancing your position. It's making a move to advance. There's a word in there that is very, very specific: the result doesn't matter. It's the intention. You have to pretend that there's a wall there."

While Wallace’s penalty has sparked debate in the NASCAR world, Hamlin thinks that the sanctioning body applied the rule as it is written. 

"While the finishing position showed that he didn’t advance, if you look out of the middle of Turns 3 and 4, Bubba was the furthest out in front," the championship leader added.

NASCAR defends its penalty on Bubba Wallace

During the latest episode of the "Hauler Talk" podcast, NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde clearly addressed the penalty decision on Bubba Wallace.

"We determined that he did advance his position in a couple of areas," Forde said (via NASCAR.com). "At a certain point, if you look at the replays, he’s in first, and it’s the last lap. If there is a caution, there was a point pretty close to that start/finish line where he would have been declared the winner."

Even in the case that Wallace emerged as the winner, Forde said the result would have been the same.

"Now he would have been black-flagged and still gone back to 29th, but certainly in our eyes, he advanced his position at that point. At some point, he went below the line, and at some point, he did advance his position, and that was all that mattered, whether he intended it or not," he added.

23XI tried to protest the penalty within the 20-minute post-race window. But the penalty was upheld by the sanctioning body, which cost Bubba Wallace 27 points.

He remains 13th in the standings despite the Atlanta demotion.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak