Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Denny Hamlin receiving massive NASCAR penalty

The NASCAR world received a bit of a surprise today as Denny Hamlin was penalized for an engine inspection failure. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. is surprised by the news.

When NASCAR teams are caught cheating or breaking the rules one way or another, it’s usually for a good reason. Looking for every tenth, every digit of horsepower that you can produce. Then there are times when things fall through the cracks.

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From Dale Jr.’s point of view, the Denny Hamlin engine penalty was a result of making a mistake. Not trying to gain an advantage.

“Wild. Happened in March. And at Bristol where motor doesn’t really matter (gives me confidence there was no real intention). Also considering what was going on with tire management during the race. Big big disappointment for DH and crew,” Earnhardt wrote on X.com, formerly known as Twitter.

“If you gonna trick the engine you ain’t risking it at Bristol,” the Hall of Famer added in a second post.

If you gonna trick the engine you ain't risking it at Bristol.

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 22, 2024

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows what he’s talking about, especially at Bristol. If he says it makes no sense for them to mess with the engine at Bristol, I believe him. The fact that TRD self-reported the violation is also a good sign it wasn’t necessarily malicious.

Still, 75 points and 10 playoff points being taken away is not what Denny Hamlin wanted. He was in the middle of a regular season championship battle, and now he’s out of reach.

TRD messes up, Denny Hamlin pays

Denny Hamlin and his team reused a race-winning engine without NASCAR inspecting it first. Toyota TRD, as the engine provider for Joe Gibbs Racing, is ultimately who made the mistake.

However, it doesn’t matter. JGR used the engine and that means they receive an automatic L2 penalty. On top of 75 driver and owner points and the 10 playoff points, crew chief Chris Gabehart is being fined $100,000.

This penalty is going to drop Hamlin out of the regular season championship race. He was 28 points back from the leader Tyler Reddick. Now, Hamlin drops from third to sixth overall in the points. 786 to 711.

Denny Hamlin will also drop from third to sixth in playoff points. He drops from 21 to 11 and is now between Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric in playoff points.