Denny Hamlin explains how Toyota’s blunder has ruined his championship-4 chances
Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has explained how the point-penalty has cost them a good position ahead of the R-8 cutoff race.
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Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)
The 2024 NASCAR season has been a bag of mixed emotions for Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin. The No:11 Toyota Camry driver started the season on a high note winning three races and establishing himself as a championship favorite, but as the season came close to the playoffs his form dropped.
But just before the playoff started, he was given a L2 penalty because of a mistake from Toyota Racing Development. Denny Hamlin team rebuilt a race winning engineer before NASCAR’s inspection and was given a playoff and championship points penalty. The 10 points he lost that day could have made much confident going into last race of R-8.
He admitted that the 75 points he lost as part of the penalty cost him the championship and it cost him a 15-point bonus that could have helped him the post-season battle. Hamlin pointed out that the points lost was a huge swing for them and cutline coming down to points as it always does it hurting him.
You can look at it and say, ‘Well it’s just a 10-point penalty,’ but it isn’t. Look where I’m at now: I’m eighth in points. I was battling for the regular-season championship, which would have paid 15 points, and now at most I’m probably going to get three. Just a huge swing for us… and we know that these cutlines come down to the number, (it) always does.
Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.
Denny Hamlin’s crew chief gives his verdict on the 16-race winless streak
While talking about his drivers’ performance Chris Gabehart pointed out that despite the 16-race winless streak, they are capable of winning races it just that they are caught in a tough situation. He admitted that they have work around the harsh situation to thrive.
It’s just part of the sport; the main thing is your performance; your internal performance metrics are the ones you have to look at and say we’re capable of winning; the situation is just not working itself out. So, when those performance metrics are there, that’s the key thing, and you just got to work through it from there.
Denny Hamlin said.
The No:11 team is coming into Martinsville, determined to go all in to win the race and make it into the championship-4. They have to be perfect with their execution to pull it off and it will be interesting to see if they can make the dream a reality.
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Justin P Joy
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