NASCAR: Who’s Hot And Who’s Not Heading Into Pocono

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

NOT – Denny Hamlin

Following the race on Sunday it might have been hard to imagine Denny Hamlin being deemed “not” considering his strong top-five run at Indianapolis after having been slow all weekend. Then it came out that parts of the No. 11 machine were confiscated following the post-race inspection process. On Tuesday NASCAR dropped the proverbial hammer on Hamlin and the No. 11 team when they handed out their penalties for the infraction. Hamlin was docked 75 championship points which dropped him from 11th in the points down to 21st. The Crew Chief on the No. 11 team (Grubb) and the Car Chief were both suspended for the next six races. Lastly, Grubb was fined $125,000. The only good news here is that Hamlin has already won a race in 2014 otherwise this penalty could have destroyed his hopes of making the chase.