Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship hopes are gone, and his path to his first Cup championship just got a lot tougher after NASCAR handed out heavy penalties on Thursday afternoon.
Toyota said the Bristol-built engine that Hamlin used to win a race in March was “incorrectly” rebuilt by the manufacturer (Toyota supplies engines to the team) before it was disassembled and inspected by NASCAR.
NASCAR docked Hamlin and his team 75 points, 10 playoff points (points used in the playoffs to help drivers advance in the rounds), and fined Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, $100,000.
The penalty dropped Hamlin, who was third in the standings and just 28 points behind leader Tyler Reddick, to sixth with two races remaining in the regular season, widening the gap to Reddick to 103 points. He will also be reduced in playoff points from 21 (third place overall) to 11 (sixth place overall), and will likely miss out on the extra playoff points awarded based on final regular season rankings.
Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson said full responsibility lies with the manufacturer and that Joe Gibbs Racing had no involvement in the engine disassembly.
Teams are required to use previously used engines, which are sealed to ensure most parts have not been tampered with, for 18 of the 36 regular-season races. Full-time teams must submit to NASCAR a schedule of events in which they plan to use the sealed engines before the start of the season.
TRD self-reported the violations, and NASCAR assessed penalties related to the race-winning engine having been tampered with prior to inspection.
“TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposal of all engines pre- and post-race,” Wilson said in a statement. “Despite having procedures in place, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to Costa Mesa. [Calif.] The facility was dismantled and rebuilt rather than demolished and inspected by NASCAR per the rule book.
“While we are absolutely certain the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we put NASCAR in a difficult position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect the engine. We have reviewed our processes and have taken several additional steps to ensure this never happens again. TRD takes full responsibility for this serious error and apologizes to Denny, Chris and Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR and our fans.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has decades of experience covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500 races for ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine, the Daytona Beach News Journal and more. Follow him on Twitter @Bob Cocks Glass.
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