NASCAR insider shows “reality” about how ‘tail end of career’ JGR driver failed to clinch his first championship

Jordan Bianchi has shared the "reality" of JGR's senior-most driver, Denny Hamlin's failure to secure his career-first championship. The NASCAR insider underlined Toyota's mid-season mistake, which robbed the #11 driver of a potential regular-season title.

Hamlin entered the 2024 Cup Series season on a strong note. After an underwhelming performance in the opening races, the JGR driver exhibited stark improvement in his form. He claimed his maiden win of the season during the fifth race weekend at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and after a one-race gap, the veteran driver secured another victory at the Richmond Raceway.

A few races later, Hamlin registered his third win of the season and 54th of his career at the Dover Motor Speedway. With three wins from the first 11 races, the #11 Toyota driver was primed for his career-first regular season championship. However, Toyota's blunder proved costly for the aspiring driver.

Before the Daytona race, the 25th battle on the 26 regular season races slate, Toyota admitted they disassembled Hamlin's race-winning engine from Bristol without letting NASCAR inspect the engine first. It attracted penalties for engine violation, and the driver was docked 75 regular season points and 10 playoff points.

Not only did it rob Hamlin of a potential championship, but it also resulted in a sixth-place finish in the regular season standings. The Virginia native is 44 years old and, according to Bianchi, is on the 'tail end of his career.'

Bianchi spoke on the pivotal moment, saying Hamlin's team wasn't the same after NASCAR's penalty. He said (via Dirty Mo Media).

"Great opportunity there to win the regular season championship and even if you don't, finish second or third, finish higher up than he did, and that's more points, right? Unfortunately, that penalty happened for the engine, it took the wind out of the sails and they were never the same team again. Maybe it's a coincidence maybe it's not but the reality is they just weren't the same team from that point forward," Bianchi said (0:45).

JGR's #11 team saw a decline in performance after the penalty. Their playoffs were largely lackluster with a couple of top-5s, resulting in a Round of 8 exit for Denny Hamlin, marking his 20th season without a title.

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JGR wrapped up the 2024 Cup Series season without a single Championship 4 entry

JGR fielded four drivers in their 2024 Cup Series campaign: Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs. It's worth mentioning that all drivers successfully made the playoffs even though Truex Jr. and Gibbs didn't have any wins.

Joe Gibbs' grandson couldn't make it past the Round of 16 and settled his sophomore year in P15. The next round saw MTJ marking his exit, ending his final full-time season winless and in P10. Hamlin managed to advance into the Round of 8 but couldn't propel his #11 Toyota further into the Championship Race.

Bell was the only driver who punched the Championship 4 ticket. However, that fate was short-lived as NASCAR penalized the JGR driver for riding the wall on the penultimate lap. The #20 driver was disqualified from the playoffs as William Byron was reinstated.