“This is about as black and white as it gets”: NASCAR insider on Denny Hamlin and JGR’s L2 penalty 

Veteran NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck recently opened up on the L2 penalty levied on Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team. According to an official statement, the team allegedly violated NASCAR's engine inspection norms.

Per the rules, every race-winning engine must be presented before NASCAR before the team disassembles it for further use. However, according to a statement by NASCAR, Toyota Racing Development had "disassembled and rebuilt" Hamlin's Bristol-winning engine before NASCAR could inspect the same.

Meanwhile, a user on X (formerly Twitter), wondered if Joe Gibbs Racing should appeal to NASCAR. Deeming an appeal "pointless," Gluck responded to the user saying:

"Seems pointless. This is about as black and white as it gets. Winning engines must be submitted for inspection before being torn down. This one wasn’t. Automatic penalty. Bad break for Hamlin/JGR because of Toyota’s error, but that’s the rule."

The No. 11 team was found violating Sections 14.7.1. E, F, and 14.7.1.1. B, E of NASCAR's rulebook, which was self-reported by Toyota Racing Development (TRD). According to the rulebook, the penalties suffered by Denny Hamlin and his team are the lowest L2-level penalties permissible.

The penalty docked Hamlin 75 regular season points and 10 playoff points, which dropped him from P3 to P6 in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Additionally, NASCAR announced that Hamlin's win at Bristol in March, which was also his first win of the season, would not count toward his playoff eligibility.

Denny Hamlin has three wins this year. Therefore, he is still locked in the playoff rumble.

Renowned FOX journalist on whether Denny Hamlin's team should appeal

The race at Bristol Motor Speedway was held back in March and the penalty was issued on Thursday, August 22. Thus, a fan on X was curious if the No. 11 team could appeal to NASCAR, given that the penalty was issued after so long. Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports responded to the fan, writing:

"No reason to appeal. The reason the timing is so late is that TRD must have just realized that the winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly rebuilt instead of being inspected by NASCAR and told NASCAR about it."

The penalty on Hamlin's team also included his crew chief Chris Gabehart getting charged a hefty $100,000 fine. The Cup Series team was docked 75 regular season points and 10 playoff points from the owner's championship as well.

With that said, Denny Hamlin has two more races to gain positions in the point standings. Watch him in action at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, August 24, at Daytona International Speedway. The 160-lap event will stream live on NBC with radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.