Denny Hamlin was feeling pretty down.
After receiving the toughest and most unusual penalty of his 20-year NASCAR career, Hamlin was still trying to understand how it might affect his season and his hopes for finally winning a Cup Series championship.
“It’s hard not to feel negative right now,” Hamlin said at Daytona International Speedway on Friday. “I’m in the moment, and I’m feeling negative about it, not about the decision itself, but about how it might impact our season and what it could mean for us.”
NASCAR took away 75 points and 10 playoff points from Hamlin on Thursday, which ended his chance to win the regular-season title and made his path to a championship much harder.
This big penalty was because Hamlin’s race-winning engine from Bristol Motor Speedway in March was rebuilt by Toyota before NASCAR could inspect it. The sanctioning body also fined Hamlin’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, Chris Gabehart, $100,000.
Toyota Racing Development reported what Hamlin called a “colossal mistake.”
NASCAR gave the same penalty it would give any team that alters an engine before it’s inspected. Even Hamlin’s competitors agreed there was no intention to cheat, and NASCAR made sure to follow the rules strictly.
“I’m definitely in favor of just following the rules as they are,” Hamlin said. “This put a lot of people in difficult positions, but NASCAR did what was right by sticking to the rule book.”
