“If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.” That’s how the old NASCAR saying goes, and some drivers tend to take it seriously. Remember Smokey Yunick? The man was notorious! He even used an inflated basketball to avoid fuel regulations. But these are stories of old NASCAR, right? With millions on the line, contracts with sponsors, and team reputations, would teams still cheat? Well, Denny Hamlin summarized it best when he said, “There’s always intent,” after A.J. Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing were caught at Nashville Superspeedway. A day before the 2025 Cracker Barrel 400, NASCAR announced that the No. 16 crew was found guilty of adjusting the splitter after pre-qualifying inspection. This meant that the 43-year-old was forced to start in the rear, along with losing pit selection, and was forced to do a stop-and-go after the green flag was dropped.

Having spent two decades in the Cup Series, Denny Hamlin has seen it all at this point. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver dismissed the narrative that it was a ‘mistake’, claiming that the team unsuccessfully tried to gain an unfair advantage, only to be caught before the race even began.

In a sport defined by fine margins, NASCAR teams do all they can to squeeze every last drop of performance. The Next-Gen car has single-source suppliers, which means gaining speed depends on strategy, car tuneups, and the driver’s skills. While the penalty for illegal modifications is harsh, every now and again, a bold crew attempts to circumvent the rules with some underhanded tactics. Only this time, the sanctioning body caught them red-handed, an embarrassing outcome for the No. 16 Chevy crew.

Sharing his thoughts on Allmendinger’s cheating scandal, Denny Hamlin said on the Actions Detrimental podcast, “When you’re done through tech and rolling it out of the pit road, there’s a minute or two where NASCAR officials are keeping an eye on, ‘Are you fiddling with this thing after we just looked it over?’ And they got caught fiddling. That’s the basic premise of it. And what they were trying to do is make their car faster. There’s no other explanation. They can try to spin it any way they want, but they tried to mess with their car after inspection. Obviously, they messed with it in an area that was illegal.”

NASCAR made an example of A.J. Allmendinger by ejecting his car chief, Jaron Ansley, from Nashville, and even confiscated his hard card. In some fans’ eyes, this might be one of the occasions where the Kaulig Racing team got caught, but what about the times they managed to escape the sanctioning body’s eagle eye? The 43-year-old finished fourth at the Coca-Cola 600, by far his best result of the season. Recent controversy begs the question: Was that result legitimate?

Having competed at NASCAR’s highest level since 2005, Denny Hamlin was utterly unfazed by the verdict against Allmendinger. The Florida native said on his podcast, “It wasn’t anything that it was like, ‘Oh my god, did you see what they did? That’s not the reaction because it’s like, ‘Okay, they got caught.’”

As for Allmendinger, he went on to say, “It’s just a part of NASCAR life. NASCAR saw something they didn’t like when we were sitting there, we had to go back, (and) my guys did a good job. We got back through there…only lost 10 or 12 minutes of practice, and the way these practices work, you almost run out of tire anyway so it’s not like you gotta be out there for 25 minutes.” 

The stakes are only going to get higher now that the second half of the season is officially underway. Could more teams get caught in the weeks and months ahead? Only time will tell.

Allmendinger to compete with Kaulig Racing in 2026

Amidst the ongoing drama and controversy, Kaulig Racing has decided to confirm A.J. Allmendinger’s Cup Series seat for next year. Having secured four top-10 finishes in the opening 14 races, the California native has shown plenty of promising results after returning to NASCAR’s highest level in 2025. While the race in Nashville didn’t go as planned, the veteran will aim to point his way into the playoffs by getting some consistent results in the upcoming races.

Team president Chris Rice was full of praise for the California native, going on to say, “You know, someone asked me over the weekend, is AJ coming back next year and I can tell you he is coming back next year and he is going to be Cup racing. When we stepped out on a limb and hired AJ when no one really wanted him, we fell in love with each other, and have become best friends. And he has constantly picked us up when we are down in the dumps. Every time, there’s AJ and it doesn’t matter if it’s Cup or Xfinity, he makes us better wherever we need him.”

Allmendinger hasn’t won a Cup Series race since 2023, but he’ll be taking a look at the calendar and marking the fixtures he stands a good chance in. The Chicago Street Race and Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway present good opportunities to get back in Victory Lane, while the Charlotte Roval is a venue the veteran knows all too well. But Matt Kaulig will also be having some stern words with his crew, making sure no further ‘illegal modifications’ are found in the No. 16 in the races ahead.