Joe Gibbs Racing won’t appeal penalties from Pocono ruling

Joe Gibbs Racing has declined to appeal the penalties levied by NASCAR that stripped Denny Hamlin of his Pocono Raceway victory and cost Kyle Busch his runner-up finish.

NASCAR carried out its stiffest punishment against a race winner in more than 60 years with the disqualification of Hamlin.

“What you’ve seen here is a reaction to kind of a new way of doing business,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition.

The JGR Toyotas flunked postrace inspection Sunday night when NASCAR found issues in both cars that affected the aerodynamics. Miller said Monday on Sirius XM the exact issue was “extra layers of vinyl” found under the wrap of the car that essentially modified that area of the lower nose on each car.

Joe Gibbs Racing apologized in a statement and said changes were underway to make sure it did not happen again.

“This change in our build process was not properly vetted within our organization and we recognize it is against NASCAR’s rules,” said Wally Brown, director of competition for Joe Gibbs Racing.

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. Hamlin was stripped of his third Cup Series win and a track-record seventh at Pocono.

Chase Elliott finished third and was awarded the win without ever leading a lap.

Newgarden out of hospital: Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden has been released from a Des Moines hospital and returned to his Tennessee home, where he will wait for an evaluation to determine if he can race this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Team Penske named Santino Ferrucci as its standby driver in case Newgarden is not medically cleared to compete on the road course at Indianapolis. Newgarden collapsed in the motorhome lot Sunday at Iowa Speedway following a late crash.