NASCAR: Denny Hamlin’s Darlington victories encumbered

Denny Hamlin’s NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series victories at Darlington have both been encumbered thanks to a rear suspension infraction.

Thanks to rear suspension infractions discovered in the post-race inspections following both the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series races at Darlington, Denny Hamlin’s wins in both of those races have been encumbered.

As a full-time Cup Series driver, the only encumbered victory that really means anything to him is the Cup Series victory. That win will not count towards the playoffs. However, because Hamlin already has a Cup Series victory at New Hampshire this season to secure his spot in the playoffs, the fact that his Darlington win is encumbered really doesn’t mean much as far as qualifying for the playoffs goes.

However, Hamlin still had 25 points docked from his overall point total because of it, bringing him from 810 points to 785 points, and the 5 playoff points he earned from the win will also not count, bringing him from 12 playoff points to 7 playoff points. He stayed in 5th place in the championship standings, but he dropped from 6th to 9th in playoff points.

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Mike Wheeler is the crew chief of the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that Denny Hamlin drivers in the Cup Series. As a result of these findings, he was fiend $50,000 and will be suspended from the next two races. He will have to sit out the regular season finale at Richmond as well as the playoff opener at Chicagoland. No word has been released yet as to who Wheeler’s replacement for those two races will be.

Back-up crew chiefs are nothing new to Joe Gibbs Racing this season. Adam Stevens, the crew chief of the #18 Toyota driven by Kyle Busch, was suspended and replaced for four races earlier this season. His first replacement, Ben Beshore, ended up getting suspended for one race as well. He was replaced by Jacob Canter.

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