Daytona Beach Florida AP Nascar has dealt a significant blow to Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin imposing a substantial penalty that has effectively ended his chances of winning the regular season title and complicated his path toward a championship the decision announced on Thursday strips Hamlin of 75 points and 10 playoff points marking a dramatic turn of events for the veteran driver the penalty comes as a result of an incident involving Hamlin's race-winning engine from the Bristol Motor Speedway event in March the engine which should have been inspected by NASCAR following the race was instead mistakenly rebuilt by Toyota Racing development TRD before NASCAR could conduct its mandatory tear down and inspection this action is a direct violation of NASCAR's rules prompting the governing body to issue a penalty consistent with those levied against any team that alters an engine prior to inspection along with the points deduction Hamlin's crew chief Chris gabart has been fined $100,000 further compounding the penalties faced by the team the sanction has dramatically altered the landscape of the Nascar Cup Series standings Hamlin who was previously sitting third in the standings just 28 points behind the leader Tyler reick has now dropped to sixth place with only two races left in the regular season his chance of clinching the title has vanished and his playoff points have decreased from 21 to 11 this reduction leaves Hamlin with a much Slimmer margin for for error as he enters the postseason David Wilson president of TRD acknowledged the mistake and took full responsibility for the error emphasizing that Joe Gibbs Racing the team Hamlin drives for was not involved in the engine's improper handling TRD is solely responsible for the handling and disposition of all our engines pre and post race Wilson stated despite having procedures in place Denny's race winning engine from Bristol was mistakenly returned to our Costa Mesa facility in California where it was disassembled and rebuilt rather than being properly torn down and inspected by NASCAR as required by the rule book Wilson went on to stress that although they are certain the engine would have passed inspection their actions placed NASCAR in an untenable position by not allowing the governing body the opportunity to inspect the engine is mandated in response to this incident Toyota has implemented additional measures to prevent such a mistake from happening in the future this penalty not only affects Hamlin's standing but also sends a clear message to all teams about the importance of adhering strictly to NASCAR's regulations with the postseason looming Hamlin and his team will now have to navigate a much more challenging path to keep their Championship hopes alive