NASCAR alters playoff picture with huge penalty, five months after the race

If you thought 45 days was a long time between the IndyCar season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida and Josef Newgarden's victory-stripping disqualification for Team Penske's push-to-pass violation, then get a load of this one on the NASCAR side.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin won the race at Bristol Motor Speedway back in mid-March. More than five months later, 158 days to be exact, he and the No. 11 team were issued an L2-level penalty for violating NASCAR’s engine inspection requirements after Toyota self-reported an infraction.

The team was found in violation of Sections 14.7.1.E&F and 14.7.1.1.B&E of the NASCAR Rule Book, relating to race-winning engines. Because the race-winning engine from Bristol was rebuilt by Toyota before NASCAR could tear it down and inspect it, hefty penalties were issued.

Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson called it a "grievous mistake".

Hamlin was docked 75 points and 10 playoff points. He dropped from third to sixth place in the point standings and is now 103 points behind points leader Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing after having been just 28 behind, effectively eliminating him from capturing the regular season championship with two races remaining before the start of the four-round, 10-race playoffs.

He had 21 playoff points thanks to his three wins (five playoff points each) and six stage wins (one each), but now he has 11.

Hamlin's Bristol win still stands, but it no longer counts toward his playoff eligibility. He does still have two other wins at Richmond Raceway and Dover Motor Speedway, so he is still locked into the four-round, 10-race postseason. For tiebreaker purposes, only those two wins count.

The same penalties were issued to the No. 11 team in the owner standings, and crew chief Chris Gabehart was fined $100,000.

Hamlin and the No. 11 team can still collect more playoff points from race wins and stage wins throughout the rest of the regular season, which includes this Saturday night's race at Daytona International Speedway and next Sunday night's race at Darlington Raceway, and for as long as they remain championship eligible in the playoffs.