Photo Credit: Sean Gardner | Getty Images
Jusan Hamilton, who has been involved in NASCAR race operations since the 2016 season, made history as the first Black race director in NASCAR history in March 2017 and has served as a Race Director alongside Tim Berman for NASCAR since the 2022 season, is no longer employed by NASCAR.
NASCAR confirmed the news, which was originally reported by Bob Pockrass, to TobyChristie.com on Friday afternoon.
While the sanctioning body has given no official reason that Hamilton was dismissed, in his report, Pockrass stated that it isn’t believed that the move was performance-related.
Hamilton was in race control during the Duel qualifiers at Daytona this year and called a caution a few hundred feet from the finish line, which awarded the win to Austin Cindric instead of Erik Jones, who crossed the finish line first. In the Daytona 500, a few days later, Hamilton didn’t call a caution on the final lap for a crash involving race leader Denny Hamlin.
After Daytona, Hamilton admitted fault in the Duel, and that NASCAR would try to race back to the finish line on the final lap when possible. A week later at Atlanta, a caution would be thrown for a crash on the final lap, which awarded the win to Christopher Bell while he was in a three-wide battle for the win with Kyle Larson and Carson Hocevar.
Rob Branning | TobyChristie.com
On a weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where his Team Penske teammates dominated, Austin Cindric called it a “missed opportunity” for his No. 2 team, which finished 17th. Cindric said a mistake by him in qualifying put them behind the eight ball, and late-race damage ended any hope of a good finish.
Still, Cindric is remaining focused on the task at hand, and doesn’t feel his 19-point deficit to the Playoff cutline with two races remaining in the Round of 12 will force him to be overly aggressive.
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