NASCAR insiders react to devastating Denny Hamlin penalty
Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team was hit with a devastating penalty last week, which docked him and his team 75 driver and owner points, as well as a stiff 10 playoff points, and there isn’t anything he could do about it.
During the latest episode of The Teardown, NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic discussed what the penalty has done to Hamlin’s championship hopes, and how it’ll change the way the No. 11 team approaches the next couple of months.
“Denny Hamlin would have been in this conversation, of course, but we didn’t get to talk about his unfortunate situation yet. Man, talk about cursed. Talk about unlucky. One of the weirdest things that could ever happen to somebody,” Gluck said, regarding Hamlin’s chances at the regular season title after the penalty. “So NASCAR requires that if you win, you have to submit your engine for inspection. But they don’t make you submit it right away, because you can use it again. That’s part of the rule — the sealed engine rule, where, essentially, they want every engine to be used at least twice. You can use it more than that, but at least twice, because they’re trying to keep teams from having a new engine for every race.
“Remember, even back in the day, there were qualifying engines, people would have different engines, and they’re just trying to save money, make the team save money, right? So the teams asked for this, by the way, and this is fine. Everybody’s on board with this, but the teams themselves — I mean, in this era, teams are not really building their own engines. I mean, yeah, you could say, ‘ECR is part of Childress,’ but it’s like — Toyota, for instance. These engines are being built in Costa Mesa, California. These are all organized by Toyota Racing Development.
“JGR, Hamlin, Chris Gabehart, they don’t have anything to do with this, right? But the NASCAR rule book, you have to penalize the team. You can’t just say, because imagine if you said, ‘All right, you know what, the engine manufacturer screwed up, so we’re gonna fine the engine manufacturer. So you have to make it hurt, in some sense.”
Evidently, Bianchi believes the penalty is unfair to Hamlin and the No. 11 team, but there also isn’t a way NASCAR could work around it and not penalize the veteran driver for a crime he didn’t commit.
“It’s really unfair. Unfortunately, there is no way to work around it,” Bianchi responded. “You could say, like, Danny Hamlin doesn’t deserve this, the No. 11 team doesn’t deserve this. But, okay, what is the penalty? What is a reasonable way to say to teams like, you can’t do this? Like you can’t work around this. This, unfortunately, is the only way.
“Like, I’ve asked a ton of you in the garage, and everybody’s like, there is no way. And so it’s just, it’s a really crummy situation. It’s a body blow. It’s going to sting throughout the playoffs, and especially when you look at how the first round sets up.
“Like, you know, if you’re Denny Hamlin pre-penalty, you’re going to Atlanta. Like, ‘Listen, we just gotta keep the wheels in the car. We finish top 15, even top 20, we’re like, we’re going to be okay, more than likely.’ Now you’re like, ‘We can’t afford to get in anything. We leave there with a bad finish, we’re in trouble. We’re almost in must-win mode, going into Watkins Glen, and then going into Bristol,’ and I don’t think that’s a position anybody wants to be in.”
‘It’s a cruel format. It’s really tough to argue the fairness of it.’
Continuing, while Gluck stated Hamlin and the No. 11 team can still elevate and win the championship, he put into words how much the penalty will change the way they approach the next couple of weeks, and the start of the playoffs.
“It’s pretty wild, honestly. Like, I mean, to lose 10 playoff points is painful in itself, right? Like, that’s two wins, but then you think about the 75 regular season points, and how far that drops him,” Gluck added. “So you’re talking about, even if Hamlin finished third in the standings, but now he’s eighth, so he loses five spots. So you know, the top 10 in the regular season standings get playoff points, so you lose more there too. So we’re talking about, essentially, maybe the equivalent of three races, so 15 playoff points. That’s the difference.
“Can you still win the championship? Sure, but as you said, there’s way less of a chance of a mulligan, and there’s way more emphasis on you probably have to win multiple times in different rounds to make it. Does Danny Hamlin have the speed? Does the 11 team have the speed? Absolutely, every week they seem to have the speed. They also haven’t won since April, which underscores how difficult it is to actually have the winning car, and win with it and have the best car, right? So, this is a tough sport.”
It’s all underscored by NASCAR’s position, Bianchi believes, and the way their playoff system operates, as to why the penalty can be so detrimental to a team like the No. 11’s chances.
“It’s a cruel format. It’s really tough to argue the fairness of it. It’s a conversation for a different day, but that’s a reality,” Bianchi stated. “This team could be lights out for nine weeks, and it could be a non-issue. They get to Phoenix, it would be one of the Final Four, and it’s not a problem. They are certainly capable of that.
“Honestly, if they can maybe get a win or two in the early rounds, you could really help yourself out. And then maybe when you get to round three, you’re not in this really precarious spot.”
Alas, it’ll be fascinating to see if Denny Hamlin can rise above and win the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title, but a major contender was dealt a huge blow during the last week due to this penalty, it seems.