Long: Will an engine penalty exacerbate Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR Cup title worries?
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Over the years, Denny Hamlin’s championship hopes have been dashed in the most bizarre ways. The list includes a defective roof hatcha oversized piece of tape and Ross Chastain’s “Hail melon.”
But Hamlin says this week’s penalty is “definitely at the top” of the list. The question is, will it cost Hamlin a championship before the playoffs even begin?
“It’s hard not to be and feel negative right now, and I am right now,” Hamlin said Friday at Daytona International Speedway. “I feel negative, not about the decision or anything like that, but just about our season and what it could potentially do or not do.”
Toyota Racing Development takes blame for a violation that cost Denny Hamlin a chance at the regular season title and may also impact his playoffs.
The violation is hard to believe.
Teams must run their engines several times per season. The engines are sealed by NASCAR. This policy has been in place for several years.
Toyota Racing Development handles the engines of Toyota cars, including Hamlin’s. The president of Toyota Racing Development said Hamlin’s engine was “mistakenly” sent back to the TRD facility in Costa Mesa, California, where it was disassembled and rebuilt instead of being disassembled and inspected by NASCAR.
With no engine available for inspection, NASCAR was forced to penalize the team. NASCAR deducted 75 points and 10 playoff points from Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing, respectively.
Chase Elliott is 10 points behind Tyler Reddick and leads the points standings with two races left in the regular season.
The penalty will have far-reaching implications and could be crucial in the playoffs, which for the first time will feature multiple wildcard races in the first two rounds.
Hamlin loses almost half of the 21 playoff points he had earned through three wins and six stage wins.
The 75-point penalty caused Hamlin to drop from third to sixth place in the overall standings.
Kyle Larson (now third in the points standings), Ryan Blaney (fourth) and William Byron (fifth) overtook Hamlin in the overall standings with the penalty.
“It’s to our advantage when you drop back a little in the points standings with such a strong car,” said Blaney. “Obviously you have to race against someone, but that puts them a little behind.”
This is the first time Front Row Motorsports has claimed the front row of a Cup race.
Hamlin had an outside chance of winning the regular season championship before Saturday night’s race at Daytona (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock) – until the penalty.
“That’s gone,” Hamlin said of the regular season title.
There is a risk that he could slip to seventh place in the points standings – and if things go badly, he could even fall to ninth place.
This is significant because the regular season champion receives 15 playoff points. Second place receives 10 playoff points. Third place receives eight playoff points, and tenth place receives just one playoff point.
If Hamlin falls to ninth place before the playoffs begin in two weeks, he could lose as many as 13 playoff points. Playoff points are added up each round, so the loss could be even greater.
“It’s a punch in the gut,” Hamlin said of the penalty. “This format rewards excellence in the regular season. It allows you to not have a perfect day and still be in contention for the championship. Now I’m kind of back in the middle where I’m very vulnerable in some places.”
Kyle Busch must win either at Daytona or Darlington to avoid missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Just add that to the list of woes that contributed to the future Hall of Famer still being in search of a Cup title.
In 2015, he failed to advance to the third round because he had a broken roof hatch at Talladega and lost four laps trying to repair it.
In the 2019 championship race at Homestead, Hamlin’s title hopes were dashed when the team put a large piece of tape on the front of the car to improve aerodynamics. Instead, the tape blew airflow toward the engine, which began to overheat, forcing Hamlin to make a pit stop. Teammate Kyle Busch won his second title that night.
In 2022, Ross Chastain was two points short of the final transfer spot for the championship race – a position held by Hamlin – at Martinsville with one lap to go. Chastain spun his car into the wall and drove from Turn 3 to the finish line, passing five cars and securing the final transfer spot while Hamlin’s title hopes suddenly ended.
It will be up to Hamlin and his team to keep this week’s penalty off that list.
“You just have to figure out what the best way forward is,” Hamlin said. “And the best way is just to win.”
