On Thursday afternoon (Aug. 7), Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would would not be appealing the penalties levied against Denny Hamlin, crew chief Darian Grubb and the No. 11 FedEx team for infractions found in postrace inspection after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway weeks ago.
NASCAR docked Hamlin 75 points, crew chief Darian Grubb and car chief Wesley Sherrill were suspended six races each and placed on probation for the next six months. Grubb was also fined $125,000, car owner J.D. Gibbs lost 75 championship owners points after NASCAR found issues with the rear firewall block off plates on Hamlin’s No. 11 that finished third behind race winner Jeff Gordon and Hamlin’s Gibbs teammate Kyle Busch.
Jimmy Makar, vp of racing operations at Joe Gibbs Racing, explained on SiriusXM NASCAR why JGR decided not to appeal the penalties after stating they would after the penalties were handed down.
“We had made a mistake, it wasn’t a purposeful mistake, obviously,’’ Makar said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “There was no reason to go ahead and (appeal).’’
NASCAR announced the penalties on the Tuesday after the Brickyard 400 stating that Hamlin’s car violated several sections of the rule book, including sections relating to the ductwork of the car and sealing of interior sheet metal on the car. Additionally, the section regarding firewalls being secured in place was violated which is where a bulk of the penalties stems from.
The penalties that were assessed were on a P5 level, which is the second highest on NASCAR’s scale.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.