{"id":154370,"date":"2025-09-19T07:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154370\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T07:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T07:07:08","slug":"explaining-the-suspension-of-denny-hamlins-crew-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154370\/","title":{"rendered":"Explaining the Suspension of Denny Hamlin’s Crew Members"},"content":{"rendered":"

On lap 384 of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, two of Denny Hamlin<\/a>\u2018s pit crew members earned an unplanned vacation.<\/p>\n

Hamlin\u2019s right-front wheel came off of his No. 11 Toyota under the green flag, incurring a harsh penalty for front tire changer Austin Maloney and jackman Joel Bouagnon, who were both issued a two-race suspension by NASCAR on Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

But a new rule implemented by NASCAR prior to the start of the 2025 campaign will keep Maloney and Bouagnon on the road for another week before they serve the penalty.<\/p>\n

The rule says that teams can defer penalties handed out for non-behavioral reasons for one week. That will allow Maloney and Bouagnon to pit Hamlin on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.<\/p>\n

But why, exactly, does that matter? <\/p>\n

\"2025<\/p>\n

How Many Wins Are Enough For Denny Hamlin?<\/p>\n

If the two crew members were to serve their two-week suspension without a deferment, that would leave Hamlin without his first-string jackman and front tire changer for the Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire and the second race of the round at Kansas Speedway. Maloney and Bouagnon would then return for the Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.<\/p>\n

With the deferment, however, Hamlin will begin the second round of the NASCAR playoffs with two of his best pit crew members intact, which could prove to be huge. <\/p>\n

Pit strategy is important at every race on the NASCAR calendar, but especially at a race such as New Hampshire, where it is expected to be difficult to pass. Pit road can make or break a team\u2019s race at a venue such as NHMS, and Hamlin won\u2019t have to rely on backup crew members facing that pressure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that under green flag conditions, pit road will have a much bigger impact on track position at New Hampshire than at the ROVAL. The spread-out nature of green-flag road-course racing lends itself to mistakes during a green-flag cycle being less costly than they would be at a track such as New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the factor of Hamlin\u2019s success at New Hampshire compared to the ROVAL. Even if he were to have Maloney and Bouagnon available at the ROVAL, Hamlin\u2019s outlook for the road course isn\u2019t great: he has only one top-five finish at the venue in seven starts, and no finishes better than 13th in the Next Gen era.<\/p>\n

But Hamlin will have a fast car, all his pit crew members and a great track record at New Hampshire on his side this weekend. In 31 starts at the Magic Mile, Hamlin has 19 top-10 finishes and three wins, the most recent of which came in 2017.<\/p>\n

When all the factors are put together, it simply made all the sense in the world for Joe Gibbs Racing to defer the penalty and give Hamlin the best opportunity possible to win on Sunday and make the last two races of the Round of 12 a formality.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows for the No. 11 team. Regardless of Hamlin\u2019s result, he will have to drive the final two races of the Round of 12 without two of his regular crew members. That could be a detriment to Hamlin\u2019s playoff outlook barring a win at NHMS.<\/p>\n

\"#20:<\/p>\n

Christopher Bell\u2019s Courageous Choice to Honor Charlie Kirk<\/p>\n

A scenario where Hamlin potentially goes into a cutoff race at the ROVAL near the cut line and without his regular jackman and front tire changer isn\u2019t ideal, but JGR\u2019s plan to defer the penalty clearly doesn\u2019t hinge on that being in play, and nor does Hamlin\u2019s stellar 2025 campaign that has most everyone predicting that he moves on to the Round of 8.<\/p>\n

But should misfortune befall Hamlin at Kansas or Charlotte \u2014 especially if it happens on pit road \u2014 and Hamlin has either a win in the bank or a points gap due to a good result at New Hampshire, JGR will look like geniuses for deferring the penalty.<\/p>\n

And if for some reason everything goes horribly wrong and Hamlin fails to advance to the penultimate round of the playoffs, the penalty deferment will likely be forgotten about and relegated to the wastebasket of NASCAR history. <\/p>\n

For the moment, at least, it looks to be a wise decision that could pay huge dividends for the No. 11 team moving forward. <\/p>\n

\"Donate<\/a>
\n\"20240706<\/a><\/p>\n

A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On lap 384 of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, two of Denny…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154371,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-154370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}