After the #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry crossed the line at Richmond to win, the entire NASCAR community had just two questions. Did Denny Hamlin jump the restart? And if so, why wasn’t he penalized? The explanation from NASCAR baffled many. “There’s no doubt he rolled early,” NASCAR Vice President of Competition, Elton Sawyer revealed, yet Hamlin remained the winner.

So while it seems like Hamlin got away with his shenanigans fair and square, could this set an unfavorable precedent for NASCAR that drivers could exploit in the future?

Will NASCAR’s lenience prove to be its worst enemy?

After NASCAR confirmed Hamlin jumped the restart by a couple of inches and gained an advantage over Truex Jr and Joey Logano, many veterans and insiders believed this could work against NASCAR in the future. Among these, Dale Earnhardt Jr was perhaps the most concerned. After all, now that NASCAR has given Denny Hamlin a free pass, others wouldn’t expect any less.

On the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download, the JR Motorsports owner gave his insights into how this could lead to officials losing the edge on the drivers and teams. He stated, “Maybe we don’t need to get crazy and change shit, but I think NASCAR certainly has to step in and go, well, ‘we need to clarify what’s fair and what’s not’ because I thought you had to go to the box, and NACAR is now saying, ‘eh, it’s whatever.’”

The reasoning given by Elton Sawyer over why Denny Hamlin wasn’t penalized revealed that the sport didn’t want to play a hand in the outcome of the race with a penalty, especially when the leaders were involved. Sawyer explained the call to not penalize and said, “When it’s at the end of the race, and the stakes are high – taking a win away from someone is obviously a considerable penalty – we need to feel 100 percent confident in our decision to take a win away. In race control on Sunday night, we felt that it was the right call and stood by it. With the benefit of 36 hours of review, it became clear that the 11 did go early.”

Looking back at Formula 1’s 2021 fiasco, NASCAR would want to do its best to avoid a controversy like the one triggered by the FIA’s decisions in the last laps of the finale. However, Earnhardt Jr. believes if NASCAR doesn’t clarify its plans for penalizing similar incidents, it could lead to chaos.

Junior revealed, “If NASCAR doesn’t say something in the next driver’s meeting or send out a bulletin to the teams or whatever, I think this could get crazier, right? And then what is gonna happen is, and we’ve seen this many many times, somebody is going to do exactly what you (Hamlin) did three months from now and get penalized. Then it’s going to be, ‘What the hell, that’s inconsistent’ so that’s the only thing I’m worried about.”

NASCAR needs to tread carefully from here on out and ensure drivers and teams aren’t allowed to question the rulebooks. Speaking

However, Hamlin believes that it is equally important for drivers and teams to stay on top of the competition’s heroics.

Denny Hamlin exposes how drivers and teams are gaining an edge over the officials

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Although Denny Hamlin jumped the restart and gained an advantage, the #11 driver felt that he only made the most of his situation. While others were fuming at Hamlin for not giving Truex Jr a ‘fair shot’, he believes this is just the beginning.

Hamlin shared, “I think we’ve just gotten so smart, the drivers I mean, when it comes to understanding how to get good restarts, how to take advantage of the system.” The 23-year-old co-owner shared how teams and drivers had been gaining the edge of NASCAR’s rulebook, feeling that the only way for a driver to retaliate was to fight back with their own shenanigans.

Hamlin added, “We’ve got educated on that, it’s through people like Josh Wise and whatnot that educate these drivers on, ‘Hey, here’s the rule. And here’s how we’re going to get around that rule. If you’re P2 or P3 and we’re gonna roll up on these guys, you’re gonna carry that speed and you’re gonna be able to take over that first place entering turn one.”

With each driver trying their best to exploit the rules to favor themselves, Denny Hamlin feels the leader has to fight off these tactics inevitably, despite any intervention from NASCAR. He stated, “So as we get smarter in those situations, then the leader has to counter with his own strategy to throw those guys off. So that’s what I was trying to do, throw guys off and say ‘I know what your plan is. I can see it half-starting. And I’m not gonna let you dictate the restart.”

“I’m Gonna Be Pissed”: Joey Logano Slams NASCAR’s Inconsistent Officiating, Demanding the Same Favoritism as Denny Hamlin

While it’s safe to say Denny Hamlin believes the ball is in the drivers’ court, do you think the officials need to find a way to standardize such penalties?