Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE team was issued a L2-level penalty for violating Sections 14.7.1.E&F and 14.7.1.1.B&E of the NASCAR Rule Book, all of which pertain to meeting specific engine seal requirements.
The issue involves Hamlin’s race-winning entry at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier in March, where he led a race-high 163 of 500-scheduled laps en route to his first Cup points-paying victory of the 2024 season and ultimately resulting in NASCAR declaring that the team’s car did not meet the requirements involving the engine seal.
As a result of the penalty, Hamlin was docked 75 driver/owner points along with 10 Playoff points. Crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined $100,000.
Per the NASCAR Rule Book, Section 14.7.1.E states all race-winning engines “will be long block sealed by NASCAR and must be completely inspected by NASCAR before the engine may be disassembled by the team. If the team chooses to use the long block sealed race-winning engine again before being inspected, the engine must be used in the same vehicle number the next time it is used.”
Section 14.7.1.F states the long block engine assembly seals of a long block sealed engine must not be altered, removed or replaced.
Section 14.7.1.1.B states that “seals must not be removed without prior approval by NASCAR.”
Section 14.7.1.1.E states that “if a race-winning engine is sealed and presented for post-race inspection at a later date with damaged, altered or missing seals, an L2 Penalty will be assessed.”
With the penalties, Hamlin, who was trailing the 2024 regular-season lead in the standings by 28 points, now trails the lead by 103 points, which also drops him from third to sixth in the regular-season standings. In addition, his Bristol victory in March will not count towards any eligibility for any Playoff or non-points events.
Amid the announcement, David Wilson, President of TRD [Toyota Racing Development] USA, released a statement, where he and TRD took responsibility for Hamlin’s penalty while explaining the actions that were taken and resulted in the penalties being levied by NASCAR.
“As the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race. Despite procedures being in place, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being torn down and inspected by NASCAR per the rule book.
“Although we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine. We have reviewed our processes and have implemented several additional steps to ensure that this never happens again. TRD takes full responsibility for this grievous mistake, and we apologize to Denny, Chris, Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR and our fans.”
The good news for Hamlin is that he is still locked into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at Richmond Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway, both in April, and is set to pursue his first Cup championship in his 19th full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series.
Hamlin also now has two regular-season events remaining on the 2024 schedule to make up the Bristol victory removed from Playoff eligibility, beginning this upcoming weekend at Daytona International Speedway and next weekend at Darlington Raceway before the 2024 Playoffs commence at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8.
Denny Hamlin’s 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues with the upcoming Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur this Saturday, August 24, at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
