In light of the controversial cool down lap following this year’s Chicago Street race, we here at the Daily Downforce thought it’d be cool to take a look at some of the other insane cool down laps in the sport’s history. Traditionally, cool down laps are meant for drivers to sort of come down from the highs of competition. During this lap, most of them catch their breaths, unbuckle their seatbelts, and undo their window nets. But sometimes, these so-called “cool down” laps are anything but “cool.” Sometimes, tempers boil over. So, with no further ado, here are 5 of the craziest cool down laps in NASCAR history.
When most fans hear the name Carl Edwards, flaring tempers typically don’t come to mind. Over the course of his NASCAR career, Edwards was generally seen as a cool-headed individual, on and off the track. That’s not to say he never had any run-ins. One of his most high-profile disputes came following an Xfinity Series race at Michigan International, which saw him tangle with NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Things were getting dicey up front as the battle for the lead came down between three popular drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, and Robby Gordon. In the closing laps, Dale Jr. made a rare, aggressive move after getting a massive run coming out of turn 2. The number 8 of Earnhardt tagged Edwards from behind, which turned the 60 left and across the nose of the number 88 of Gordon. Jr. went on to win the race under caution, and after he took the checkered flag, Edwards caught back up with the 8 and sideswiped him after Jr. had already taken his window net down.
If you rewatch this race, particularly the end, you will notice that this is one of the only times Dale Earnhardt Jr. was booed after winning a race. Edwards confronted Earnhardt in victory lane, grabbing at his fire suit. Edwards was fined $20,000 the following week for the incident.
Following the race at Circuit of the Americas in 2023, Daniel Suarez was very upset with HMS driver Alex Bowman and his own teammate Ross Chastain. Following the conclusion of the race, Suarez sped up through the pack following a late-race spin off the nose of Alex Bowman. As everyone else shifted down through the gears slowing to a caution pace, Suarez remained virtually at race pace and inevitably caught up to the 48 and 1 machines as they all three headed into pit road.
In the pits, Suarez plowed into the back of Bowman after he had already started unbuckling his belts. This sent the 48 hard into Chastain in front of him. Suarez confronted Bowman and Chastain after climbing out of the car and was subsequently fined $50,000 for the incident.
Though the issue between Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman post-race at the Chicago Street Race made headlines, it wasn’t the only incident that occurred on the cool-down lap. As you can see in the video below, on the last lap, Chase Elliott was dumped by Daniel Suarez, which ruined Elliott’s decent run. After the checkered flag had flown and his teammate Bowman started to celebrate his victory, Elliott sped up through the field on the cool down lap and sideswiped Suarez to share his displeasure.
Oddly enough, Elliott was not fined for this incident, sparking further controversy. Was this NASCAR playing favorites, or was Bubba fined because the incident was well-recorded in the heat of the moment? We’ll let you decide that, NASCAR fans.
In the fall Martinsville race in 2021, Denny Hamlin appeared to have one of the best cars under him. Late in that race, though, HMS driver Alex Bowman challenged him. What led to the post-race confrontation was an incident that happened with only 7 laps to go. Bowman and Hamlin were battling hard for the lead. This hard racing led to contact between the 48 and the 11 as Bowman tagged Hamlin from behind and spun himself, much to the adornment of the fans in attendance.
This put Bowman in the lead and mired Hamlin back in traffic. Bowman went on to win the race but after the checkered flag flew and the field completed the cool down lap, rather than feeding onto pit road, Hamlin stayed on track. As Bowman tried to celebrate with a burnout, Hamlin met him at the finish line, stopping the celebration nose to nose.
Hamlin was not fined for this incident. Rather, he publicly called Bowman a “hack,” who then turned that slam into a successful t-shirt campaign.
One of the most recent incidents on this list came earlier this season at Richmond Raceway. Like so many races over the last several years, it looked like Martin Truex Jr. had the car to beat. But Lady Luck just wasn’t on his side. Prior to an overtime restart, the field pitted, and Truex was in the lead. But he ultimately lost the race off pit road, giving his teammate Denny Hamlin the point and control of the next and final restart.
To make matters worse, it’s pretty universally agreed upon that Hamlin jumped the start. He edged out Truex, and the number 19 was able to hang with him for a few corners before being cleared by the 11. On the final lap, he turned hard left into Kyle Larson, who then retaliated by crowding Truex into the wall, coming to the checkered flag.
On the cool down lap, Truex was livid. He raced back up to Hamlin and hit him in the rear multiple times before making the hard left to come down pit road. Truex was not fined for his post-race tantrum. But it makes this fan wonder if it was this incident that ultimately pushed Truex in deciding to retire.
That does it for this list, Daily Downforce readers. What do you think are some of the craziest NASCAR cool down laps? Do you think that NASCAR is consistently inconsistent when it comes to handing out penalties following post-race meltdowns? Let us know! And be sure to tune right back in here at DailyDownforce.com for all the latest news and stories in the world of NASCAR.
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