Denny Hamlin fined $50,000 and loses 25 driver points

Denny Hamlin has been fined $50,000 and has been penalized 25 driver points after admitting that he intentionally wrecked Ross Chastain during last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway.

NASCAR punished Hamlin for “behavioral” that includes attempting to manipulate the outcome of a race, wrecking another vehicle and actions “detrimental to stock car racing or NASCAR.”

The fines were announced as part of a big group of penalties revealed by NASCAR Wednesday.

Hamlin and Chastain crashed on the final lap of Sunday’s race, and Hamlin talked about the incident Monday night on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. He said he intentionally forced Chastain into the wall as they raced for position behind the lead group.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said that Hamlin’s comments on the podcast led to the penalty.

“When you look (the incident between Hamlin and Chastain) this past weekend, we would have viewed that as a racing incident, but then 24 hours later to have a competitor that has gone on a podcast … (and) you start admitting that you have intentionally done something that would compromise the results of the end of the race, then that rises to the level that we’re going to get involved.

“There’s no other way to look at that. We’re going to get involved in those situations. We’ve been consistent in the past with that, and we will be consistent going forward.”

That there was a history between the drivers also mattered to NASCAR.

“We don’t want to be in the middle of it, but this one has gone on for a little while,” Sawyer said. “It went on last year. It felt like maybe we were in a good spot. Looked like it was rearing its head again. Then the comments that were made afterward put us in