Denny Hamlin knew it was bad news when he walked into the room Thursday and saw Toyota representatives, owner Joe Gibbs and crew chief Chris Gabehart together.
“They didn’t enjoy that moment any more than I did,” Hamlin said Friday at Daytona International Speedway.
Hamlin was notified Wednesday of the need for a meeting, which was scheduled to take place Thursday. Toyota Racing Development (TRD), represented by David Wilson, Tyler Gibbs and Andy Graves, had to inform the No. 11 team that it would be penalized for an engine violation. NASCAR imposed the penalty Thursday afternoon, deducting Hamlin’s regular season (75), championship and playoff (10) points. Gabehart was fined $100,000 and the win at Bristol Motor Speedway will not count toward Hamlin’s postseason eligibility.
Toyota reported to NASCAR itself that the winning engine from the March 17 race did not comply with NASCAR’s post-race protocol. It was disassembled and reassembled instead of being disassembled and inspected by officials.
Hamlin dropped from third to sixth place in the regular season. The penalty took him from 28 points behind the leader to 103, and he had 21 points in the playoffs and now just 11.
“No point counts until it counts; that’s the truth,” Hamlin said. “The couple years we missed the cut from the final four, it was the Hail Melon (Ross Chastain’s move to Martinsville in 2022) and we had a power steering failure at Homestead (last year), so it comes down to a few points here and there.
“It just means we have to be even better when we get to the second and third rounds.”
During the meeting, Hamlin had questions. Mostly about the how, what and when. He knew Toyota wasn’t going to put him in a room and tell him his season was going to be turned upside down, but he admitted that an incident like this can motivate a team. Now, though, he doesn’t need motivation, just results.
“I definitely don’t feel any better than when I found out,” Hamlin said a day after the news broke. “It’s really tough in this format when you work so hard in the regular season to get all those bonus points. It’s really tough to see them just wiped away, but that’s part of it and we have to get over it now.”
Meanwhile, the attitude is changing to: “So what? And now?”
The penalty does not mean Hamlin is out of the postseason, as his other two wins at Richmond Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway have already qualified him. He still has two races left in the regular season in which he can earn bonus points that he can use if needed to advance to the playoffs.
“You just have to figure out what the best way forward is and the best way is just to win, right?” he said. “Win and make sure you can finish the races as well as you can. Obviously our margin for error is over now and we just hope to get through the rounds.”
