Denny Hamlin says his team didn’t cheat, defends Southern 500 win

Denny Hamlin knows that his win last weekend at Darlington Raceway now carries the perception of being tainted after NASCAR inspectors found his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota with an illegal suspension, prompting the sanctioning body to issue penalties on Wednesday.

But Hamlin maintains his team wasn’t cheating and intentionally trying to skirt NASCAR’s rules, rather merely pushing the limits of legality in an effort to go faster — something every team does every single week. In a sport where difference between winning and losing is often miniscule, teams are continually looking to gain a performance advantage.

“The engineers and the crew chiefs are so smart, they fight for that little bit because they know it can make the difference in the smallest of deficits on the racetrack,” Hamlin said Friday at Richmond Raceway. “I'm going to tell my crew chief to keep fighting for every square inch of that car to be the best.

“It's a tough game and you got to be willing to take the consequences when you pass over that line that gets drawn in the sand.”

During a thorough technical inspection at its research and development center, NASCAR discovered the truck trailing arm spacer on Hamlin’s car was not in complete contact with the pinion angle shim. NASCAR requires the pieces be flush together with no space between. Mike Wheeler, Hamlin’s crew chief, met with inspectors and agreed the suspension configuration on the No. 11 Toyota broke the rule.

“We didn't start the race with an illegal car,” Hamlin said. “It worked its way that way. We just didn't allow for running into the wall with five laps to go. We didn't allow for the dirt and the grime to get in there and loosen those things up as bad as it did. It's unfortunate.”

Hamlin was docked 25 regular-season points, while Wheeler was suspended two races and fined $50,000. Although allowing Hamlin to keep his Southern 500 win, NASCAR classified the win as encumbered, meaning Hamlin does not receive any of the benefits associated with winning — including the loss of five bonus playoff points and gaining playoff eligibility.

But because Hamlin won at New Hampshire Motor in July, he was already locked into the 16-driver playoff field. That victory meant the penalties handed out didn’t carry great consequence compared to a driver who otherwise doesn’t have a second win to fall back on. Joey Logano’s spring win at Richmond was encumbered due to a similar suspension infraction on his No. 22 Ford, but because the Team Penske driver hasn’t won another race this season he must win Saturday night to earn a playoff berth.

“If you took away Darlington, I'd still have my New Hampshire win,” Hamlin said. “If you took away my New Hampshire win, I'm still in on points, so what is the difference? I ran good enough through the regular season to get in in the playoffs. The 22 [team] hadn't performed high enough in the entire regular season, so, yeah, it's a tougher penalty for those guys, no doubt about it.”

A debate stirred throughout the week whether NASCAR needs to start stripping wins entirely to further dissuade teams from failing postrace inspection. On Friday, NASCAR increased the penalties for infractions pertaining to the rear suspension, upping the points deduction from 25 to 40, a three-race suspension for the crew chief and car chief, and a $75,000 fine. NASCAR is contemplating taking away wins beginning next season, NBC Sports reported Thursday.

“We can talk about taking wins away in the future, I think it's definitely a possibility,” Hamlin said. “As long as it's the same for everyone. … I'm fine with taking wins away. Nothing wrong with that.”

Not every driver agrees with Hamlin that a victory should be taken away if a rule violation is found during postrace inspection. Many don’t view the infractions on Hamlin’s and Logano’s cars as cheating, per se, more so a team overstepping the line in its pursuit of speed. And if NASCAR were to strip a win it would create the impression that a team committed a serious breach when in fact the issue had no impact on a race’s outcome.

Martin Truex Jr. was leading the Southern 500 before pushing too hard and blowing a tire with three laps remaining, allowing Hamlin to pass him. Truex is adamant that Hamlin, who erased Truex’s 22-second lead over a long green-flag run, did not hold a performance advantage aiding his effort in catching Truex.

"I can tell you that's not why he beat us,” Truex said. “You soak tires or you build a big engine, those things are blatant cheating. But pushing the envelope on parts and pieces and sometimes things are out of tolerance, I don't consider that cheating. I think it's just sometimes you go too far. Sometimes things unexpected happen.

“Everybody in the garage pushes the rules. You have to be competitive. So labeling people cheaters for failing something minuscule is harsh and just sheds a bad light on our sport.”