NASCAR: Denny Hamlin’s Crew Chief Reacts To Staggering Fine For Engine Violation

NASCAR recently handed down a severe L2-level penalty to Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team after discovering an engine inspection infraction with their race-winning engine from Bristol Motor Speedway. The repercussions for the team are profound: Crew chief Chris Gabehart faces a $100,000 fine, and both Hamlin and the team’s owner have been docked 75 championship points each, with Hamlin also losing 10 playoff points.

Gabehart, clearly disappointed by the sanctions, explained the complexity and human factors involved in racing operations. He commented to NASCAR.com:

“I mean, sure we’re all disappointed, every one of us — TRD, JGR, 11 car, all of our sponsors are really disappointed in the news.

“But context is, at Bristol, we won with this engine. But as some may not realize, for process-savings measures, you run the engines more than once, and the engine was scheduled to run at a later date, and it did. And one thing led to another, and instead of ultimately ending up at NASCAR, it went back home to its home.”

The error stemmed from the engine being sent back to Toyota Racing Development in Costa Mesa, California, for disassembly before it could be inspected by NASCAR.

David Wilson, President of TRD USA, has openly accepted responsibility for the oversight and promised corrective action:

“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.”

Despite the substantial blow to their championship aspirations, Gabehart remains undeterred, insisting that the team will continue to push for victories just as they have done throughout the season.

“How it happens is simple. All of this is done by humans. Like in any pro sport, when you turn on the TV or you go to the game and you watch such an amazing thing unfold so seemingly effortlessly, it doesn’t look human. It looks robotic, as does racing at the top level.

“Anybody who knows about details about what this garage area is capable of producing week in and week out, it’s superhuman. It’s every bit as superhuman as watching the NFL’s Super Bowl. It just is.

“But it’s done by humans, and humans aren’t perfect, and they make mistakes, and that’s what happened. I’ve made plenty of them that have cost the 11 car a win. Denny’s made plenty of them that have cost the 11 car a win. JGR, Toyota. I mean, we’re teammates.

“We all do it together, and it’s a really hard way to incur such a stiff penalty for sure, and none of us are going to take it lightly. I’m confident our partners at Toyota will not be taking it lightly, but at the end of the day, we’re humans and we’re not perfect.

“We’re gonna do the same thing we’ve been trying to do the first 24 races, and that’s win — and we’ve been more than capable to win a lot of them.

“We’ll be more than capable of winning the next 12. So really, there is no refocus. … Quantifiably, the fact is, you win and you’re in. You win and then you advance in rounds. And there’s no one in this garage more capable of winning week in and week out than us — absolutely zero people — and this will be nothing but a little extra motivation to prove that.”

Currently, Hamlin and his team find themselves in sixth place in the standings, 103 points behind Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing.