NASCAR: The other major penalty that could change the entire season

A lot has been made about Alex Bowman's disqualification from the round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, a decision from NASCAR which ultimately handed Bowman's round of 8 spot to Joey Logano.

The Team Penske driver went on to win the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to punch his ticket to the Championship 4, effectively meaning that there is one less spot open in the winner-take-all round than there would have been if Bowman had not been disqualified. In other words, Bowman's disqualification could end up eliminating another driver, in a roundabout way.

But another penalty that could potentially shift the championship was issued in August and stemmed from a race that took place in March.

Denny Hamlin penalty could be felt at Martinsville, seven-plus months later

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin won at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, and more than five months later, Toyota self-reported an infraction stemming from that win. The race-winning engine from Bristol was rebuilt by Toyota before NASCAR could tear it down and inspect it, and upon learning of the violation, hefty penalties were issued by NASCAR.

Hamlin was docked 10 playoff points and 75 regular season points. The regular season points penalty ended up knocking him down three positions in the final regular season standings, meaning that he actually ended up losing 13 total playoff points.

Additionally, teammate Christopher Bell, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney each gained a playoff point by moving up a spot.

The driver of the No. 11 Toyota currently has 4,092 points and sits 18 points below the Championship 4 cut line. Byron is the fourth and final driver above the cut line with 4,110 points.

Without the infraction, Hamlin would have started the round of 8 with 13 additional playoff points. So he would now have 4,105 points while Byron would have 4,109, placing Hamlin just four points below the cut line ahead of this coming Sunday afternoon's 500-lap Xfinity 500 around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Ridgeway, Virginia oval.

Could those lost playoff points end up being the difference between Hamlin advancing and contending for his first ever Cup Series championship and being eliminated in the round of 8 for the third year in a row?

The Xfinity 500 is set to be shown live on NBC from Martinsville Speedway starting at 2:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 3. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!