Denny Hamlin’s penalty upheld upon appeal

Denny Hamlin will remain twenty-five points short after his plea to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel to overturn the penalty that deducted the points was rejected on Thursday.

Hamlin had received the penalty after admitting on an episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast he had attempted to wreck Ross Chastain on purpose during the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway in March. The two had a history of clashing with each other in 2022, which continued into Phoenix as Hamlin tried to squeeze Chastain into the wall; Hamlin would finish twenty-fourth and a spot ahead of Chastain.

Ironically, the action was deemed a violation of the rulebook’s Section 4.4.D for “actions detrimental to stock car racing”, while also breaking 4.4.B regarding manipulating a race by attempting to take out another car.

The lost points dropped Hamlin from seventh to sixteenth in points. He has attempted to work his way back up the order in the three races since and now sits eleventh. Had the penalty not occurred, he would be back in seventh.

Shortly after the ruling, Hamlin created an “emergency” episode of Actions Detrimental to break down the “pretty long” appeals process and give his side of the story. Much of his grievances came with the fear that NASCAR would attempt to clamp down on drivers offering their insight via podcasts should they stray away from the leadership’s opinion.

“I think a lot is on the line at this point,” said Hamlin. You have drivers that don’t know where the line is now. I am worried for the future of our sport and the last thing we want is our drivers timid not only off the race track now but on the race track. I thought for the last two hours of this hearing they conceded they had lost the first two points and that all they’re going for is ‘actions detrimental.’ There was a key point where I think one of the panelists was asking me, ‘What result do you want? Do you want all or nothing?’ And I’m like, ‘Ugh, I gotta be careful with that.’ I wanted it all reversed. This was casual contact by two hard-racing rivals. That’s a fact. You can’t twist it any other way. My intent doesn’t matter, that’s been taken out of the rulebook. I just really feel like we made a strong case.

“I’ve given the panel a list of thirty-five of the last retaliatory incidents. Every one of them that has a monetary or a point penalty has either been someone wrecked someone under caution, safety vehicles are out there it’s a dangerous moment, it was a right-rear hook, […] it resulted in a caution because the wreck was so severe that it was a caution…

“Mine was none of these. It shouldn’t even be on the page with the thirty-five retaliatory incidents. That’s what scares me about this. I believe the most detrimental thing we can do is tell drivers you can’t be yourselves.”

The appeals panel consisted of Hunter Nickell, Dale Pinilis, and Lyn St. James. Nickell had overseen another appeal the previous day for Justin Haley’s louver violation, which resulted in his 100-point penalty being cut down to 75.