Chase Elliott did something Wednesday that would get him punished in most professional sports leagues.
But NASCAR reportedly won’t discipline the Hendrick Motorsports driver for his actions in the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Elliott was in position to potentially win Wednesday night’s Cup Series race before being wrecked out by Kyle Busch with 28 laps remaining. Busch wound up finishing second behind race-winner (and creepy mask-wearer) Denny Hamlin.
Rather than heading straight for the ambulance like he was supposed to, Elliott stood on the edge of the track and gave Busch the middle finger as he drove by under caution.
Take look at this censored video of the controversial moment:
.@ChaseElliott got turned by @KyleBusch.
Chase responded. #Toyota500 #NASCARIsBack pic.twitter.com/DTuUSsIq6a
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) May 21, 2020
That’s about as not-OK-for-live-TV as it gets, but NASCAR didn’t feel it warranted any discipline, according to multiple reports.
NASCAR says Chase Elliott will not be fined for the gesture nor for not going straight to the ambulance. #nascar @NASCARONFOX
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 21, 2020
To his credit, Busch took full ownership of the incident during post-race interviews. His apology to Elliott and the No. 9 crew seemed sincere.
Unsurprisingly, that didn’t prevent NASCAR Twitter from unleashing on its favorite target.
