Denny Hamlin on potential penalty for Austin Cindric over Ty Dillon incident: 'Gonna Ross Chastain this one'

All eyes in the NASCAR world are on a possible punishment for Austin Cindric following his right-rear hook of Ty Dillon on the fourth lap of the race at COTA over the weekend.

For his part, Denny Hamlin is opting not to weigh in on a possible penalty. Sort of.

“Truthfully, I’m going to Ross Chastain this one because I don’t have the data to sit here and say did he or did he not turn hard left,” Hamlin said on his Actions Detrimental podcast. “If the data shows it, it’s going to be a hard one to avoid a penalty. But if it looks 50-50 I think that they’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and tell him, ‘Buddy, you were close on that one.’”

Then Hamlin seemed to drift more into giving his own opinion on the Austin Cindric issue.

First and foremost, his co-host asked him if he thought the wreck being at lower speeds should matter in NASCAR’s consideration.

“Right hook’s a right hook,” Hamlin said. “There’s a wall on the right side. That’s my opinion. All right hooks.”

Then the veteran driver opened up a little more on the nuance of whether a less severe hit — both Austin Cindric and Ty Dillon were able to continue on in the race — should be punished less harshly.

“I mean he did hit the wall. It shouldn’t be the severity of the outcome that decides whether it’s a penalty of not,” Hamlin said. “And I feel a lot of the time that’s the case, right? Had Ty Dillon hit the wall really hard, really hit the wall and then bounced into the racetrack, I think that we’re talking about a different conversation. But in the subconscious mind I think it plays a role in whether NASCAR chooses to penalize or not, which I don’t think should be.”

Finally, Hamlin talked a little bit about penalties for Austin Cindric.

NASCAR typically issues one or two of three penalties in retaliatory incidents in which both drivers continue on. It can issue a multi-lap hold, a points penalty and/or a monetary fine.

A suspension would hit hard, because it would strip all playoff points prior to the playoffs beginning.

“We talked about this after the first week and I got it wrong,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know the rule. I think you’re right, though, that it’s any playoff points (get wiped out). I think you can start accumulating them once you get into the playoffs.”

That would be a harsh penalty for Austin Cindric indeed.