Chase Elliott was headed toward a good finish in Sunday's Cup Series race at Nashville. Then the wheels nearly came off.
That cost him big time after the race.
Elliott was disqualified after NASCAR inspectors ruled that five lug nuts on the No. 9 car were loose. It is not clear how many tires were affected. He was dropped from 13th place to last, which on Sunday was 39th. The reigning Cup Series champion lost all but one of the points he earned in the race.
The fact that Elliott won Stage 1 made the penalty even more severe. He lost the 10 bonus points and one playoff point for the stage win. Stage 1 runner-up Kurt Busch was awarded those points.
MORE: NASCAR at Nashville results, highlights
Elliott radioed to his team during the closing laps that he felt a vibration, but the team elected to keep Elliott on the track rather than pit.
"The lug nuts on the No. 9 were loose at the end of the race. At the end of the race Chase had a vibration," Chad Knaus, vice president of competition for Hendrick Motorsports, said in a statement (per Jayski.com). "There were quite a few tire issues through the course of the day so they were hopeful that it was just a cord or something in the tire that was creating the vibration so they chose to run the race out. It's unfortunate that the lug nuts vibrated loose on the left rear and now we are sitting here with a disqualification for the 9 team."
Elliott wondered later on Twitter how many points he would have collected had a wheel come off during the race and the 9 car wrecked.
If it had come off and we crash, we would then get to keep our stage points? Honest question https://t.co/XP11khBiv4
— Chase Elliott (@chaseelliott) June 21, 2021
NASCAR will determine what other sanctions the 9 crew will receive. NASCAR.com noted that the punishment for multiple loose lug nuts generally is a fine and the crew chief being suspended. Alan Gustafson is Elliott's crew chief.
Elliott's teammate Kyle Larson won the race, his fourth win in a row counting the All-Star Race. As for the other Hendrick drivers, William Byron finished third and Alex Bowman finished 14th.
