CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR issued Denny Hamlin a major points penalty months after he won the Food City 500 at Bristol.
Hamlin and team owner Joe Gibbs were docked 75 points and 10 playoff points. Crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined $100,000.
The penalty surrounded the engine of Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota Camry after his race win at Bristol in March. Toyota Racing Development (TRD), which makes engines for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), stated that the car's engine was improperly removed and disassembled without NASCAR's approval.
“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," David Wilson, TRD USA president said in a statement. TRD takes full responsibility for this grievous mistake, and we apologize to Denny, Chris, Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR and our fans.”
NASCAR cited a section of the rulebook on sealed engines for race-winning cars for the penalty.
"[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," the rulebook states. "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.”
NASCAR cited another part of the rule book which states, “Seals must not be removed without prior approval by NASCAR."
The penalty drops Hamlin from third to sixth in the regular season standings with two races to go before the start of the playoffs. Hamlin was 28 points behind points leader Tyler Reddick before the penalty but now sinks 103 points behind.
Engine issues have plagued JGR multiple times this season. Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs have each suffered an engine failure in the last 10 races.