DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Denny Hamlin couldn’t help but think negatively.
A day after being dealt the toughest — and oddest — penalty of his 20-year NASCAR career, Hamlin was still trying to cope with what it might do to his season and his chances of finally winning a Cup Series championship.
“It’s hard to not feel and be negative in the moment,” Hamlin said at Daytona International Speedway on Friday. “And I am in the moment. I feel negative about it, not about the decision or anything like that, just about our season and potentially what it could or couldn’t do.”
NASCAR docked Hamlin 75 points and 10 playoff points Thursday, eliminating any shot he had at winning the regular-season title and making his path toward a championship more difficult.
The hefty penalty was handed down because Hamlin’s race-winning engine from Bristol Motor Speedway in March was rebuilt by manufacturer Toyota before NASCAR could tear it down and inspect it. The sanctioning body also fined Hamlin’s crew chief at Joe Gibbs Racing, Chris Gabehart, $100,000.
Toyota Racing Development self-reported what Hamlin called a “colossal mistake.”
NASCAR issued the same penalty it would to any team that alters an engine before being inspected. Even Hamlin’s competitors acknowledged that there was no intent to cheat, but NASCAR avoided dealing in any gray area.
“I’m certainly more in favor of just run the rules as they are,” Hamlin said. “This put a lot of people in some really hard positions for sure, but NASCAR did what was right and that was go by the rule book.”
Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson said outsiders who think he would welcome the added advantage that comes with Hamlin’s punishment would be wrong.
“I was bummed to see that,” said Larson, who drives for Chevrolet. “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.
“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.”
Added Martin Truex Jr., who is teammates with Hamlin at JGR: “I don’t know what’s right. It doesn’t feel right, but somebody’s going to take the fall.”
Hamlin, who was third in the Cup standings and 28 points behind leader Tyler Reddick, dropped to sixth and out of contention for the regular-season title with two races remaining. His playoff points fell from 21 to 11, leaving him less room for error in the opening three races of the postseason.
“It’s still up to us to go out there and win races and perform. If we have the results that equal the same as our performance, we’ll still make it and everything will be fine. It’s just the sample size is about to get real small, and it just takes away all that room for error in a time where our sport can be random.”