NASCAR insider reveals significant impact of Denny Hamlin’s penalty on Cup standings
This afternoon, NASCAR handed Denny Hamlin and his team a penalty that will cost them 75 points and 10 playoff points. It’s a huge penalty that will have consequences on the regular season championship and playoffs.
Denny Hamlin and his team reused a race-winning engine without NASCAR inspecting it first. Toyota TRD, as the engine provider for Joe Gibbs Racing, is ultimately who made the mistake.
However, it doesn’t matter. JGR used the engine and that means they receive an automatic L2 penalty. On top of 75 driver and owner points and the 10 playoff points, crew chief Chris Gabehart is being fined $100,000.
As Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports points out, this is a serious penalty. It will cost Denny Hamlin and his team a lot.
This penalty is going to drop Hamlin out of the regular season championship race. He was 28 points back from the leader Tyler Reddick. Now, Hamlin drops from third to sixth overall in the points. 786 to 711.
Denny Hamlin will also drop from third to sixth in playoff points. He drops from 21 to 11 and is now between Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric in playoff points.
The problem arose from TRD, who self-reported the violation. Joe Gibbs Racing did not make the error, but they will be the ones punished. NASCAR has a very clear rule on this.
It’s a huge hit to his championship hopes. If he had come back to win the regular season championship, he would have earned 15 bonus playoff points. Instead, it’s a 25 point swing with him losing 10 points.
Denny Hamlin penalized by NASCAR
Following the news of the penalty, Toyota Racing Development released a statement on the matter. As the engine supplier, this ultimately falls on them. David Wilson, president of TRD spoke on behalf of the organization.
“As the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for handling and disposition of all our engine pre and post-race,” Wilson said. “Despite procedures being in place, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR per the rulebook. Although we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine.
“We have reviewed our processes and have implemented several additional steps to ensure that this never happens again. TRD takes full responsibility for this grievous mistake, and we apologize to Denny, Chris [Gabehart], Coach [Joe] Gibbs and the entire JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) organization, NASCAR and our fans.”
TRD makes a mistake, Denny Hamlin pays for it. While this season isn’t lost, Hamlin has a tougher job now. When the playoffs are here, he is going to be more vulnerable than he was prior. That’s an uncomfortable position for any driver.