"I hate that";"I was bummed": Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson left feeling sorry for Denny Hamlin after heavy NASCAR penalty

Until recently, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson were closely competing with Denny Hamlin for the regular season championship. However, after NASCAR imposed a substantial L2 penalty on the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, the competitive intensity for the title significantly decreased.

This is because Hamlin was stripped of 75 points by NASCAR, which resulted in his falling from third to sixth place in the standings. Meanwhile, Elliott and Larson have moved up to second and third, respectively.

However, despite the advantage gained by the Hendrick Motorsports duo over Hamlin due to the penalty, the two Cup champions expressed significant concern over the situation.

Speaking about Hamlin's penalty, which included a 75-point deduction, 10 playoff points, and a $100,000 fine for his crew chief, Chase Elliott said,

“I hate that because I want to race Denny. I want him to be amongst that group because they do a really good job. Anytime you can go head-to-head with them and outdo a team of that caliber, it’s a good thing and it’s healthy.”

Kyle Larson echoed Elliott's sentiment, expressing his own frustration with Hamlin's penalty.

“You guys might think I’ve been happy he got a penalty, but no. I was bummed to see that because it’s a huge penalty. … You want everybody to have a fair shot, and at least from what I understand, it wasn’t like they were cheating. It was just a mistake. But a mistake is a mistake, and you have to pay for it," Larson said as per The Athletic.

---

What is the strategy Denny Hamlin will employ after his penalty?

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Coke Zero Sugar 400 qualifying, Denny Hamlin discussed his game-plan for the rest of the season.

"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," Hamlin said.

Hamlin acknowledged that the penalty had left him feeling negative but also suggested that it could serve as a motivating factor for his team, potentially propelling them to Phoenix. Personally, the 43-year-old mentioned that he is consistently motivated to win every stage and every race.

Hamlin's road to recovery from the significant penalty would begin with Saturday's race at Daytona. This will be followed by the final race of the regular season at Darlington. While Hamlin could have previously been in contention for a championship celebration at the Crown Jewel track, his focus now is on winning and minimizing damage.