Rick Hendrick speaks on retaliation; Chase Elliott suspension

NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick comments on retaliation

Last week, Chase Elliott, the driver of the No. 9 sat on the sidelines due to suspension. Instead, Corey LaJoie drove the Hendrick Motorsports fielded machine at WWT Raceway.

Hear from Rick Hendrick below.

A week prior, Denny Hamlin and Elliott were in a battle at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Hamlin made contact with Elliott, twice.

After the second contact, Elliott was shoved into the outside wall. The No. 9 car bounced off the wall and straightened it out.

Then, Elliott turned hard left, hooking Hamlin in the right rear. Both drivers were done for the day after major impacts with the outside wall.

Chase Elliott crashes Denny Hamlin in retaliation at Charlotte (Video)

Hamlin jumped from his car, irate. He called for Elliott to be suspended. However, Elliott initially claimed the incident wasn’t intentional.

NASCAR didn’t buy it.

The sanction elected to suspend the driver of the No. 9 for a week. It’s the identical penalty Bubba Wallace served for a similar incident last season.

Bubba Wallace attacks Kyle Larson: Vegas NASCAR Crash (Video)

Rick Hendrick comments

On Thursday, the No. 9 car owner Rick Hendrick commented on the recent drama:

“I think you have to accept it if you did it. But when you get roughed up and you get roughed up by the same person all the time or multiple times in a race, the frustration sets in and you just … you’ve ruined my day, I’m gonna ruin your day,” Hendrick told NASCAR.com.

“And I think NASCAR is gonna calm that down, but until something was done, they were going to keep on doing it. So I don’t like it, but I feel like our guys have the right to retaliate, but we’ve got to know not wreck the guy.”

“I’d rather after the race confront them and ask them what the deal is,” Hendrick said.

He added, “But our sport’s been about pushing and shoving. It’s a fine line when you get over that. If somebody pushes and shoves you and puts you out of the race, then what are you going to do?”

Elliott returns to the No. 9 this week at Sonoma Raceway.

NASCAR explains the Chase Elliott suspension

Chase Elliott comments after his NASCAR suspension

Elliott crashes Hamlin in retaliation at Charlotte (Video)

Links

Chase Elliott | Denny Hamlin | Charlotte Motor Speedway | NASCAR

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