Parker Kligerman thought he had finally done it. After years of heartbreak and near-misses, he crossed the finish line first at the NASCAR Truck Series season opener at Daytona. It was supposed to be a moment of triumph. He had charged through the field in the closing laps, pulling off an incredible comeback. But just over an hour later, his victory was ripped away. NASCAR officials disqualified his No. 75 truck due to a minor ride height violation.

Despite the heartbreak, Kligerman remained optimistic. “I want to be at this level. I got to nail this restart,” he said after the race. Kligerman and his team appealed, hoping for a fair reconsideration. However, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the ruling, crushing any hopes of reclaiming his hard-fought victory. At the same time, NASCAR ruled in favor of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Chase Briscoe. They revoked the penalties issued against him after his car was found to have a technical infringement.

The disparity in rulings led to multiple questions. Many felt that Briscoe got the benefit of being part of a very big team, while some found it legitimate. Meanwhile, Kligerman’s disqualification reignited a long-running debate in NASCAR—how strict should penalties be for minor infractions? Now, days after the ruling, Briscoe’s teammate and 23XI Racing owner Denny Hamlin opened up about the issue. He not only revealed key details of part infringement issues but also demanded a strict penalty policy.

Denny Hamlin takes a sly dig at NASCAR’s hypocrisy!

Denny Hamlin is no stranger to controversy. As both a top-tier driver and a co-owner of 23XI Racing, he has seen the sport from multiple perspectives. On a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin addressed a growing concern—how teams manipulate the gray areas of NASCAR’s rulebook. He took the example of Parker Klingerman and Chase Briscoe to explain why NASCAR needs to be more strict.

“As a team owner, I can tell you for certain that we fight quality control issues all the time. You know, again, this car is a thousand-piece Lego set, and just to get everything to fit, sometimes you have to pull things and yank things. That’s what NASCAR doesn’t want you to do, but things don’t fit exactly right because there’s not one company manufacturing all the parts and pieces… We just buy something, and there’s some variance. It’s hard to have zero tolerance, but there are some companies that have much wider variances than others,” Hamlin admitted.

Well, all these problems would not have been there if it weren’t for the Next-Gen car. In the quest for more parity within racing, NASCAR decided to introduce the Gen 7 car in 2022. Unlike its predecessors, the Next-Gen (Gen 7) car was something that could not be tinkered with by the garage. The parts that are supplied are the same for each team; the only way to gain an advantage is the assembly. In the past, the engineers would build the car and the parts from scratch, which created a large gap between teams that could afford to make better cars and ones that could not. While it solved one problem, it created many others.

Hamlin’s comments shed light on a deeper problem. NASCAR’s single-source suppliers manufacture parts, but teams have little say in the quality control. Some parts arrive slightly misaligned, forcing teams to make small adjustments just to assemble the car properly. Hamlin believes this inconsistency creates an unfair playing field. He argued that if NASCAR improved part consistency, teams wouldn’t feel the need to make adjustments that could later be classified as illegal modifications.

As it stands, NASCAR currently receives its parts from four different companies. The chassis is supplied by Technique Chassis. Tthe body panels are from Five Star Race Car Bodies, while other suppliers for the car include Dallara and McLaren. This diversity in suppliers can definitely create the issue Denny Hamlin is speaking about, and it isn’t surprising at all. “To be better, you’d have to hold these companies to a higher standard of quality control, but we don’t have any kind of input to those companies,” Hamlin added, holding NASCAR accountable for these companies’ mistakes. Notably, Kligerman’s case was a prime example.

His crew chief, Chris Carrier, initially claimed that he was not present during the inspection and that parts provided by NASCAR were the reason they made to tweak the rear. They insisted they had no intention of bending the rules, yet they still faced the harshest penalty possible. Hamlin’s proposal for stricter oversight of suppliers could prevent similar incidents in the future. However, everyone was not that unlucky. For a similar incident, NASCAR ruled in favor of JGR driver Chase Briscoe.

Earlier in the season, NASCAR hit Briscoe’s team with a massive L2 penalty in violation of sections 14.1 and 14.5.8 of the regulation—100 points, 10 playoff points, and a $100,000 fine—for modifying his car’s spoiler at the Daytona 500. However, Briscoe’s team appealed and successfully overturned the penalty. Denny Hamlin expressed surprise at the reversal. “Whoa, man, Briscoe, it’s a good thing he got those points back, or this would have been a nightmare start. A 100-point deduction would have put him way behind the 8-ball,” he said.

With the penalty erased, Briscoe climbed back in the standings and had a fighting chance again. However, the contrast between Kligerman’s case and Briscoe’s appeal fueled further discussions about NASCAR’s inconsistent rule enforcement. Hamlin’s call for stricter action wasn’t just about punishing teams that crossed the line—it was about making sure all teams were held to the same standard. However, the demand for similar treatment is taking a toll on Hamlin and co as NASCAR recently filed a counter-lawsuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

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Hamlin weighs on NASCAR’s counter-lawsuit!

While Denny Hamlin is pushing for NASCAR to address its quality control problems, he’s also in the middle of another battle—the legal war between NASCAR and 23XI Racing. To get you up to speed, last year, 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports filed a lawsuit against NASCAR, suing the governing body for monopolistic practices. It reached a point where the two teams were close to being forced to run as open teams for the 2025 season. However, their preliminary injunction to run as chartered teams was approved after a change of judge, but NASCAR was not happy with that, as the teams refused to even sign the charter agreement.

NASCAR initially appealed the injunction, but nothing has come of that yet, as the season has started and both teams are chartered as of now. However, NASCAR recently filed a countersuit against Hamlin’s team, along with co-owner Michael Jordan’s business partner Curtis Polk and Front Row Motorsports. The lawsuit accused Polk of orchestrating a conspiracy to boycott NASCAR meetings and major events.

On the latest episode of Action Detrimental, Hamlin didn’t hold back and rubbished NASCAR’s claims. “That’s what we’re very much looking forward to when this trial happens. I found many of those things quite laughable. My favorite was saying that Curtis doesn’t know the NASCAR business. That’s like saying a chef doesn’t know how to cook. The guy knows the business. He’s been doing it for five years now. Curtis has just been fantastic for our team and certainly a pioneer,” he said.

Notably, the lawsuit has far-reaching implications. If 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports win, it could force NASCAR to make significant changes to how it governs the sport. The initial lawsuit and the countersuit are both set to go to trial in December 2025, making this a pivotal moment in NASCAR history. However, for now, Denny Hamlin focuses on making a comeback to victory lane with his No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing team.