NASCAR Cup series leader Denny Hamlin has been given a hefty 75-point deduction for an engine failure in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earlier this year.

The issue dates back to Hamlin’s win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, when the #11 team was assessed an L2-level penalty for failing to meet NASCAR engine seal requirements.

The penalty is crushing. Hamlin loses 75 driver and owner points, dropping him from third to sixth in the regular-season standings. The loss of 10 playoff points is also subtracted from his total of 21, bringing it down to 11. The team has also been fined $100,000.

NASCAR explained the penalty with the following statement, noting that Toyota itself had reported the problem: “Every race-winning engine must be inspected by NASCAR once the race team determines that its life cycle has been completed.

“In this case, before submitting the engine to NASCAR for inspection, Toyota Racing Development disassembled and rebuilt the Bristol-winning race engine from the #11.

“According to the NASCAR rulebook, this violation results in an L2 penalty for the race team and driver. Toyota Racing Development self-reported this violation.”

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Mavis Express Oil Change Toyota Camry

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

Toyota Racing admitted in a statement that the sanctions were the result of a mistake by the team.

“As the engine builder for our partner teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, TRD is solely responsible for the pre- and post-race treatment and handling of all of our engines,” the company said.

“Despite proper procedures, Denny’s race-winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility, disassembled and rebuilt instead of being disassembled and inspected by NASCAR according to the rule book.

“While we know with absolute certainty that the engine was legal and would have passed inspection, we left NASCAR in an impossible position because they were not given the opportunity to properly inspect our engine.

“We have reviewed our processes and implemented a number of additional steps to ensure this never happens again.

“TRD takes full responsibility for this serious mistake and we apologize to Denny, Chris, Coach Gibbs, the entire JGR organization, NASCAR and our fans.”