Denny Hamlin voices his support for NASCAR's massive Chase Briscoe, Stewart-Haas penalty

Denny Hamlin was in favor of the hefty punishment handed down to the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team of Chase Briscoe for counterfeiting the NACA duct to the engine panel during this past Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

On Saturday @DennyHamlin addressed @ChaseElliott's suspension, the L3 penalty against @StewartHaasRcng and more.

Watch his media availability here.#NASCAR #EnjoyIllinois300 https://t.co/24K0RRLZke

— Daniel McFadin (@danielmcfadin) June 4, 2023

“As a car owner [of 23XI Racing], I certainly support it,” Hamlin said Saturday ahead of the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. “It’s kinda what they said to us a long time ago about parts on the car… This is what the model is based off of — if we have to start designing our own parts, I mean, the model is already tough as it is, but I support any time whether a mistake or not, if there’s something — a part on the car that’s not original then certainly a penalty should be super heavy.”

NASCAR issued an L3-level penalty, the most severe punishment under the sanctioning body’s deterrence system. The penalty is a loss of 120 driver and owner points and 25 NASCAR playoff points. Additionally, it’s a six-race suspension plus a $250,000 fine for crew chief Johnny Klausmeier.

“I believe in [my] guys,” Briscoe said, via Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “I make mistakes every single weekend in the car. Multiple times. Mistakes happen. I have got their back as I know they have my back. [I was] surprised. It is frustrating but at the same time, it is what it is. We can’t change it. Obviously, the penalty was justified. … We just have to go on and make the most out of this season.” 

Denny Hamlin agrees with NASCAR’s ruling on Chase Briscoe’s team

Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition, said that NASCAR has been handing down large penalties and fines/suspensions in an effort to steer teams away from designing their own parts on the Next Gen car.

“The culture that was in our garage and our race teams shops on the Gen 6 car was more of a manufacturing facility. The Next Gen car – that’s not the business model,” Sawyer said, via Motorsport. “The race teams – and they’re doing a better job, but we still have a lot of work to do – they have to change that culture within the walls of the race shop.”

Sawyer added that NASCAR will continue to be diligent in being the “custodians of the garage.”

“We would much rather be talking about the phenomenal racing than about penalties,” Sawyer said. “But for us to keep this car in the box it needs to be in, we as a sanctioning body need to stay on top of it. We’re the custodians of the garage. We’re the custodians of this car. What we have to continue to do – and we will – is to continue to show the garage that we will not get lazy.

“We will continue to bring cars back to the R&D Center. We will continue to look at them and we’ll continue to write penalties if they continue to do the things they are doing.”