NASCAR took away 75 points and 10 playoff points from Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin on Thursday, which removed his chance of winning the regular-season title and made it harder for him to win the championship.
This large penalty was given because Hamlin’s engine, which won the race at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, was rebuilt by Toyota before NASCAR had a chance to inspect it. NASCAR also fined Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, $100,000.
Toyota Racing Development reported the “serious mistake,” as described by TRD president David Wilson, and NASCAR applied the same penalty that would be given to any team that alters its engine before it is inspected.
Hamlin, who was third in the Cup standings and 28 points behind leader Tyler Reddick, has fallen to sixth place and out of the running for the regular-season title with only two races left.
His playoff points decreased from 21 to 11, which means he has less room for mistakes in the first three races of the playoffs.
Wilson said that Toyota is fully responsible and added that Hamlin’s team, Joe Gibbs Racing, was not involved in the engine disassembly.
“TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race,” Wilson said in a statement.
“Despite procedures being in place, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility (in California), disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR as required by the rulebook.”
