It’s not very often that a team gets penalized because of the actions of the manufacturer. NASCAR has a rule that states each winning car needs to be inspected by the officials before its engine is disassembled. However, Toyota Racing Development took the engine that Denny Hamlin used to win at Bristol and disassembled it before it could be checked. Although the race was months ago on March 17, NASCAR has developed a recent habit of delayed punishments.

A similar scenario was noticed with Austin Dillon, as his playoff position was stripped days after he was declared the winner of the FireKeepers Casino 400. Although Dillon did not get penalized months later, it washed away a chance to make it into the playoffs. Although there are 2 more races left, with his performance all season, it would be a long shot for him to win a race. Now that Dillon lost his playoff spot because of the penalty for wrecking two cars, does this mean even Denny Hamlin’s place in the top 16 will be compromised?

How Toyota’s actions have been detrimental to Denny Hamlin

Jeff Gluck just reported that Denny Hamlin has been given a NASCAR L2 penalty for engine rule violations. Yes, Denny Hamlin will be penalized for this, and the Bristol win will be nullified. But unlike Austin Dillon, that was not the only race that Hamlin won this year. Lucky for Hamlin, he won the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, along with taking a victory at the 2024 Würth 400.

So, considering that JGR can be assured that Denny Hamlin will still be contending for the championship for a chance to finally win it. But it won’t be all that easy. Because of the actions of Toyota Racing Development, Denny Hamlin is facing a loss of 75 points and 10 playoff points. That’s not all, as the team’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, is fined a heavy $100,000.

Although these drawbacks will make the playoffs more challenging, Hamlin will have to fight harder than before. A win might just be possible, as consistency is his strong suit. Despite not yet winning a championship, Denny Hamlin has been oh-so-close. He has successfully made it into the playoffs every year for the last decade, among which he has four top-4 finishes. This makes hopeful fans believe that it is not an ‘if’ situation with Denny Hamlin becoming a Cup series champion, but a ‘when.’

Despite Denny Hamlin and JGR having nothing to do with the penalty, NASCAR rules state that the team is responsible for such an incident occurring. Upon hearing this, TRD took responsibility for their mistakes and issued an apology.

Toyota takes all responsibility, issuing an apology to everyone involved

Toyota Racing Development is responsible for the fines and penalties that Denny Hamlin faced and they have claimed their mistake. They issued a statement in which they explained how Hamlin’s Bristol-winning engine was returned to Toyota’s Costa Mesa facility to be disassembled. The team did rebuild the engine; however, that came without a tear-down inspection from NASCAR.

After explaining the situation from their end, TRD assured NASCAR and the fans, “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.”

Toyota took complete responsibility for this mistake, as they ended their statement with an apology to Denny Hamlin, Chris Gabehart, Coach Gibbs, and the team. The apology was further extended to NASCAR and fans, as they disappointed everyone by violating a rule. Is being marked as a mistake, but this makes the situation for JGR much harder while walking into the playoffs.

Yes, Denny Hamlin will continue to the playoffs, and fans will get to enjoy an intense upcoming finale series. Will Denny Hamlin finally be the Cup Series champion this year? Only time will tell.