On Thursday, NASCAR announced major penalties for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team and driver Denny Hamlin, after they were found to violate NASCAR’s engine inspection requirements.
Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing have been docked 75 driver/owner points, as well as 10 Playoff Points. Chris Gabehart, the crew chief of the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE entry in the NASCAR Cup Series, has been fined $100,000.
In addition to those penalties, Hamlin’s victory at Bristol Motor Speedway will no longer be valid in qualifying the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, nor will it bolster his advancement in the playoffs, or eligibility for non-points events and tiebreakers.
NASCAR issued the following statement: “Each race-winning engine must be inspected by NASCAR once the race team determines that its life cycle is complete. In this instance, prior to presenting the engine to NASCAR for inspection, Toyota Racing Development disassembled and rebuilt the No. 11 Bristol-winning race engine. Per the NASCAR Rule Book, this violation results in an L2 penalty to the race team and driver. Toyota Racing Development self-reported this violation.”
Per NASCAR’s Penalty Report, issued Thursday afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 11 team were found to violate Sections 14.7.1.E&F and 14.7.1.1.B&E of the NASCAR Cup Series Rule Book. Those sections state that any race-winning engine must be long block sealed and completely inspected by NASCAR before the engine can be disassembled by the team and that the engine assembly seals of the long block sealed engine must not be removed, altered, or replaced.
According to NASCAR, Toyota Racing Development. responsible for building engines for Toyota-supported teams Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI Racing, and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB — self-reported the issue, and since the penalty was announced, have taken sole responsibility for the penalty.
David Wilson, President of TRD USA, has since issued a statement.
“As the engine builder for our partner NASCAR Cup Series teams, TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre- and post-race,” the statement reads. “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 rulebook.
“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. TRD takes full responsibility for this grievous mistake, and we apologize to Denny, Chris, Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR, and our fans.”
With two races left in the regular season, the points penalty drops Hamlin to sixth in the regular-season point standings and essentially eliminates him from contention in the Regular Season Championship fight.
Hamlin will travel to Daytona International Speedway and Darlington Raceway in an attempt to make up some spots in the regular-season title fight, while also looking to bolster his Playoff point total — now at 11, instead of 21 — with stage and race wins.
Photo Credit: Tyson Gifford, TobyChristie.com
