Denny Hamlin looks back on massive NASCAR penalty after missing Championship 4

Denny Hamlin evaluated where it all went wrong for his once-promising season following his elimination from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this past weekend.

The veteran wheelman will not be racing in the Championship 4, and another opportunity to etch his name in the sport’s grand history has gone by the wayside. It was always going to be an uphill climb for Hamlin though, after he backed into the playoffs with a summer to forget and a major points penalty, although the latter was out of his hands.

Regardless, the penalty had a major effect on the way Hamlin ran over the past couple of months, and on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained how it changed his racing-style throughout the playoffs.

“Our penalty this year for the engine was 14 points, right? Because we lost not only playoff points, but we lost regular season points, which knocked us down, which gives you playoff points,” Hamlin stats. “So, you know, those 14 points turns out didn’t matter. But again, if we go into our playoffs with the proper amount of points that we earn throughout the year, we probably don’t try to Hail Mary our strategy at Las Vegas, right? We tried, you know, we’re — I think we restarted like 12th, and at that point, we’re like, ‘God dang it, we’ve got to get back to the front and get stage points. We can’t afford to not get stage points here.’ And then we take risk, right? And then when the risks don’t pay off, then that snowballs into quite the day.

“Luckily for us, we were able to pull some strategy at the end to get a top ten finish. But we were always fighting from behind at Vegas. And so, I think that — it probably put a level of panic, certainly within myself, those first few rounds to just — don’t make a mistake. You know, I don’t have any buffer here, that I was supposed to have, you know, into these playoffs. I’ve got to just play this thing conservatively, just get through, get through, get through, and then find a way to win in that Round of 8. And so, that’s the way I played it, right, wrong, or indifferent.

“Certainly, the penalty had more, you know, it’s more than just the actual point penalty. It’s the mental effect that it has on you that you no longer have that cushion.”

Alas, the stars didn’t align for Denny Hamlin in 2024. He’ll be back to take on all challengers again in 2025, but one has to wonder how long he’ll continue to drive at an elite level.

If he doesn’t get it together, he may end up being arguably the greatest driver to never win a NASCAR Cup Series title when he hangs up his helmet, along with Mark Martin.