Elliott won't celebrate gifted Pocono win after Hamlin DQ

Chase Elliott left Pocono Raceway as a third-place finisher and learned when he landed home in Georgia that he had been declared the race winner.

For now, at least.

Joe Gibbs Racing can still appeal NASCAR's decision to strip Denny Hamlin's victory and teammate Kyle Busch's runner-up finish on Sunday after their Toyotas failed inspections. Hamlin was the first Cup winner to be disqualified since April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank.

The Toyotas were shipped to NASCAR’s research and development center in North Carolina for further evaluation and — depending on potential appeals — it could take a week to sort out the winner or other penalties levied against JGR.

Elliott was gifted his fourth win of the season, without the Hendrick Motorsports driver ever leading a lap Sunday in his No. 9 Chevrolet. The series points leader will take the win, even if he doesn't feel great about achieving it without a checkered flag.

“I was probably just kind of more surprised by it than anything,” Elliott said Monday. “I don't think any driver wants to win that way. I certainly don't.”

Hamlin — who had already zipped his young daughter around the track on a victory lap — and the rest of the field had long left Pocono when the NASCAR inspection team found issues in both Toyotas that affected the aerodynamics.

“There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn’t have been. And that does basically come down to a DQ," NASCAR Cup Series managing director Brad Moran said Sunday night.

Team owner Joe Gibbs said Sunday he was “shocked” by the ruling and his organization planned "to review every part of the process that