Mostly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Mostly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.

I’ll admit right off the top that I’m still confused and conflicted and suspicious about what happened to Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in last Sunday afternoon’s Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.

On my TV, at about 6 o’clock, I watched them finish 1-2 in the M&M’s 400. Two hours later, on every internet message board and NASCAR web site, I learned that, no, they had actually finished 36th and 37th.

Huh? What is this, some kind of parallel universe where what you see is not necessarily what you get? From first and second to 36th and 37th in less than 90 minutes? Huh?

But that’s today’s NASCAR when it comes to the new Next Gen car. In this case, it seems someone at Joe Gibbs Racing put tape on the lower grillwork of the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin and the No. 18 Toyota of Busch. A sharp-eyed NASCAR inspector spied the tape and ruled — correctly, without question — it was a breach of the Rule Book. (It was so obvious the team didn’t even bother to appeal).

And just like that — sometime during my dinner of meat-lover’s pizza and iced tea — Hamlin and Busch were busted and Chase Elliott, without leading a lap, became the winner. It marked the first time in more than 62 years an apparent winner has been disqualified in post-race tech inspection. Before Hamlin, it was Richmond native Emanuel Zervakis with an oversized fuel tank just down Route 301 at Wilson Speedway in April of 1960.

I’ve written about countless inspection issues since getting on the NASCAR train in 1969. Before last weekend, the most famous was Richard Petty’s 1983 victory at Charlotte with an oversized engine and illegal tires. He lost points, money and prestige, but his 198th victory — en route to his unprecedented 200th nine months later — remains officially on the books.

And whether you prefer the term “creative engineering” to the word “cheating,” the practice is nothing new. In fact, the apparent winner of the first-ever Cup race near Charlotte in 1949 was disqualified for running illegal springs. Darrell Waltrip won the 1985 Winston All-Star race with a Junior Johnson-built engine that “conveniently” blew up seconds after the checkered flag. Legendary owner/crew chief Smokey Yunick often cheated in several areas since he knew inspectors would find only half of his tricks. (FYI: That’s why he’ll never make the NASCAR Hall of Fame).

So, what happened in the 62 years between Wilson and Pocono? That’s easy: two years ago, as the Next Gen car was being developed, NASCAR gave team owners a strict, no-nonsense, zero-tolerance, “death penalty” warning against cheating. President Steve Phelps issued a “by the book” edict, telling competitors that regardless of how minor the infraction, Next Gen penalties would be harsh.

NASCAR had talked that talk before, but hardly anyone paid much attention. Fines were issued, points were taken, crewmen were suspended for a few races … then everybody went racing the next weekend like they always had. Teams often felt the possibility of great reward was worth the risk of getting caught. That applied especially to teams on the Playoff bubble, ones that needed to win or finish near the front for points.

It can be argued that every winner of every race since 1949 has had something sneaky on their car. As time went on, though, Bill France Sr. chose to penalize winners rather than disqualify them. He didn’t want fans watching one of his races on Sunday afternoon only to learn on Monday morning that the winner they saw was not the winner in fact.

That’s why Joey Logano wasn’t DQ’ed after winning at Richmond in 2017 and why Hamlin wasn’t taken off the board after winning twice at Darlington later that year. Their teams lost points and money and had personnel suspended briefly, but their victories remain official.

But the burning question remains: Why did JGR even have “aero tape” anywhere near that lower-front fascia? Surely, Joe Gibbs and his people didn’t think they needed help at Pocono, where Hamlin and Busch have a combined 10 victories. Besides, both drivers are already in the Playoffs, so what was there to gain? Who made the call and who signed off on it? Did Hamlin and Busch know about the tape? Were the cars of teammates Christopher Bell and Martin Truex also taped?

We may never know. Reduced to its basics, team official Wally Brown said the mistake was human error. (Snicker or laugh wildly as you wish). I’ve spent most of the week thinking about it and I’m back where I started: confused and conflicted and suspicious about the whole thing.

Rocky Mount native Al “Buddy” Pearce has spent 53 years covering motorsports, from go-karts to Formula One and everything in between. He worked briefly as a young Evening Telegram intern before becoming a full-time racing writer in 1969. He’s the stock car editor for www.autoweek.com. He’ll be here on Saturdays with insight, history, opinions, news, questions, and critiques about motorsports. He’s in Newport News, Va., at omanoran123@gmail.com.

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