the long-term implications of this penalty cannot be overstated the loss of playoff points could prove critical in the later rounds of the playoffs particularly in the round of eight in recent years we've seen how a handful of points can make the difference between advancing to the next round and being eliminated from Championship contention Hamlin himself has missed advancing by singled digigit points in previous Seasons making these lost points potentially decisive looking ahead Hamlin and his team face an uphill battle while he's still lock into the playoffs thanks to his wins at Richmond and Dover his starting position will be significantly lower than anticipated this means he'll likely need to win multiple races in the playoffs to