Controversy surrounding second place finish (7)
I believe the answer is:
dispute
'controversy' is the definition.
(a dispute is a disagreement or controversy)
'surrounding second place finish' is the wordplay.
'surrounding' indicates putting letters inside.
'second' becomes 's' (common abbreviation).
'place' becomes 'put' (synonyms).
'finish' becomes 'die'.
's'+'put'='sput'
'sput' put inside 'die' is 'DISPUTE'.
(Other definitions for dispute that I've seen before include "Quarrel over rights" , "Row" , "Altercate" , "Question or deny accuracy or validity" , "conflict" .)