“It just takes away a lot of the effort,” Denny Hamlin breaks silence on mega L2 penalty almost ruining his championship hope

Denny Hamlin is disappointed for his team after the L2 penalty put him in a tough spot in the championship chase.

“It just takes away a lot of the effort,” Denny Hamlin breaks silence on mega L2 penalty almost ruining his championship hope

Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick (Via IMAGO)

The 2024 NACSCAR Cup season has been massive for Denny Hamlin, with three race wins giving him an edge. He was hopeful taking advantage of the regular season championship wins, but everything was derailed because of grave mistake from Toyota. The No:11 team was given a L2 penalty for engine seal violation.

TRD failed to let NASCAR to inspect Denny Hamlin’s Bristol race winning engine before rebuilding it. So, the sanctioning body gave him 75 points penalty, removing any chance of him winning the regular season championship, 10 playoff points penalty which will cost him breathing space in last 16 and his crew chief was given a whopping $100K fine as well. Toyota even apologized for the mistake.

Hamlin discussed about the disappointment ahead of the qualifying at Daytona Coke Zero Sugar 400. He admitted that the ruling takes away a lot of efforts and hard work the team has done this season. This takes away any room for error he has had in the playoffs, but at the same time he isn’t ready to give up and looking for more wins with 11 more races left in the season.

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No, we go each week to try to win. We’ll do that these next two weeks and then the 10 weeks after that. It just takes away a lot of the effort and hard work we put in to get the bonus points, obviously takes away our room for error in the playoffs.
Denny Hamlin said at Daytona.
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Denny Hamlin explains how he can progress in playoff after point deduction

The JGR driver asserted that the points are a significant part of the playoffs for any driver and recalled how he missed out on the last-4, the previous two season because of it. He admitted that the No:11 team has to be much greater in the lats two rounds to be in championship conversation.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)
The couple of years we’ve missed the cut from the final four, it’s been the Hail Melon (Ross Chastain’s move at Martinsville in 2022), and we had the power steering break at Homestead (last year), so it comes down to a couple of points here and there. It just means that we’re going to have to be that much greater when we get down to the second and third round.
Denny Hamlin said.

The JGR veteran seems to over the massive penalty already, understanding there is nothing he could do at the moment. He would be hoping to maximize the pace of his Camry in the coming races to secure maximum points and possible last-4 entry.

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