Another season of championship heartbreak for Denny Hamlin. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver seems to be in an incompatible relationship with Cup Series championships over the years. Although it seemed as if he was finally on the verge of averting his championship curse, lady luck refused to smile on him again and he fell prey to a bizarre incident that thwarted his hopes of a regular-season championship. After a proper inspection, it was found Toyota violated the engine inspection requirements. This majorly violated NASCAR’s rule book.

Owing to this, both Hamlin and JGR were docked off 75 points and 10 playoff points, and Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart was penalized $100,000. While this infraction seems to be hard to swallow, this penalty, however, altered the playoff picture completely. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver who was third in standing fell back to sixth place, crushing his regular-season championship dreams. Although Hamlin being penalized may have brought a bit of solace and rejoicing to the championship contenders, it seems the reality portrayed a different picture.

One of the top contenders in the regular-season championship was none other than the speedster of Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson. The driver was in clear contention with his teammate Chase Elliott for the glorifying crown, before Tyler Reddick ousted him from the top of the leaderboard. While Hamlin’s penalty might brought have a bit of respite in the cut-throat contention, Larson seems to think otherwise. The #5 Chevrolet driver, instead of being elated by his rival’s misfortune, sympathized with him.

In an interview with AP News, Larson asserted how NASCAR robbed Hamlin of a fair chance of contention. The HMS driver exclaimed, “I was bummed to see that. It’s a huge penalty and one that can, for sure, affect your season in a negative manner. That goes a long way. You want everybody to have a fair shot.” Instead, Larson believed that considering of Hamlin’s punishment as an undue advantage for the other drivers is unacceptable.

Hamlin’s teammate Martin Truex Jr. also echoed similar thoughts to Larson. The outgoing driver stated, “At least from what I understand, it wasn’t like they were cheating. It was a mistake. But a mistake is a mistake, and you have to pay for it. It’s just a bummer for their team and for competition.”

Speaking of the penalty being thrashed on Hamlin and his #11 team, Truex Jr. added, “I don’t know what’s right. It doesn’t feel right, but somebody’s going to take the fall.”

With all the hopes of a championship gone to vain, the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing team only have their fate to blame for the affliction, especially Denny Hamlin’s crew chief and a fellow victim of the penalty, Chris Gabehart.

Denny Hamlin’s crew chief unravels his disappointment

The longstanding crew chief of Hamlin was penalized with an exorbitant amount of $100,000. Speaking of the incident, Gabehart stated to media, “I mean, sure we’re all disappointed, every one of us — TRD, JGR, 11 car, all of our sponsors are really disappointed in the news.”

Gabehart also stated, “But context is, at Bristol, we won with this engine. But as some may not realize, for process-savings measures, you run the engines more than once, and the engine was scheduled to run at a later date, and it did. And one thing led to another, and instead of ultimately ending up at NASCAR, it went back home to its home.”

With the playoff picture completely changed, Denny Hamlin and his team have to tread the remaining races of the regular season as well as the playoff races with caution. While all hopes are not yet lost, the penalty certainly puts Denny Hamlin’s hopes of championships in jeopardy.