NASCAR: Another driver could be hurt by Denny Hamlin's penalty

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway back in mid-March, and for five-plus months, that win, one of three earned by Hamlin during the 26-race regular season, was treated like any other win.

That is, until Toyota self-reported an infraction stemming from the victory last month.

The race-winning engine from the "Last Great Colosseum" was mistakenly rebuilt by the manufacturer before NASCAR was given the opportunity to tear it down and inspect it. Though there was no competitive advantage gained, this mistake meant that the No. 11 team fell afoul of Sections 14.7.1.E&F and 14.7.1.1.B&E of the NASCAR Rule Book.

Hamlin was hit hard with penalties, losing 10 playoff points and 75 regular season points.

With three wins and six stage wins, Hamlin had earned 21 playoff points, so that total was reduced to 11. The penalty really ended up costing him 13 playoff points, not 10, since his 75-point regular season deduction resulted in him losing three spots in the standings.

He dropped from fourth to seventh place, so he only scored an additional four playoff points instead of an additional seven. As a result, he entered the four-round, 10-race postseason with 15 instead of 28.

Playoff points are added to each championship eligible driver's point total before the start of each round of the playoffs, sans the Championship 4. Ahead of the round of 16, each driver's total is reset to 2,000, so with 15 playoff points, Hamlin opened up the round with 2,015 points.

Hamlin penalty could cost another driver.

With Hamlin dropping from fourth to seventh place in the regular season standings, three drivers also moved up. Moving up from fifth to fourth was teammate Christopher Bell, moving up from sixth to fifth was Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, and moving up from seventh to sixth was Team Penske's Ryan Blaney.

As a result of the fact that they each finished one spot higher in the regular season standings than they would have without Hamlin's penalty, those drivers each gained one additional playoff point.

It is not a likely scenario, but should any of those drivers end up advancing from one round to the next by one point over a driver who did not move up because Hamlin was penalized, Hamlin's penalty would have cost that other driver a spot in that next round.

Let's use a random hypothetical scenario to illustrate this point.

Let's say that Blaney and teammate Joey Logano finish the round of 12 with the same number of points, and they are tied for the eighth and final spot to advance to the round of 8. We'll say that Blaney owns the tiebreaker due to having a better top finish during the round of 12 and thus advances over Logano.

But had it not been for Hamlin's penalty, which netted Blaney an extra playoff point, Logano would be one point ahead of Blaney and thus advance instead of his teammate.

It's a crazy point to consider, but we have seen one-point margins and tiebreakers used to determine who advances from round to round before.

A driver who had nothing to do with Hamlin's penalty whatsoever could very well end up eliminated as a byproduct of that infraction from six months ago.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to resume this Sunday, September 15 with the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International, race two of three in the round of 16. USA Network is set to provide live coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action from the famous New York road course!