Earlier last month, NASCAR handed severe L-2 penalties to Hendrick Motorsports and its drivers William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman. Citing that the team made unauthorized changes to the hood louvers of its cars, the governing body fined each of the four HMS crew chiefs $100,000 and deducted 100 owners’ and 10 playoff points for each team and 100 drivers’ points for each of the three drivers. Moreover, all four crew chiefs were also suspended for four races.

However, Hendrick Motorsports decided to appeal the decision. And as per the latest update shared by ESPN, NASCAR’s appeal panel has rescinded the points penalty, restoring all 100 points for all three drivers. Although the monetary fines and crew chief suspensions were upheld, the restoration of points moved HMS driver William Byron to the top of the Cup Series standings.

But apart from Hendrick Motorsports and its drivers. not many were happy with this decision. A Twitter user said that it was “cheated bias working.” Whereas a few others pointed out that it was unfair to other drivers and even Denny Hamlin chimed in with his disapproval.

Denny Hamlin can’t keep calm after the Appeal Panel’s decision

Denny Hamlin was recently penalized $50,000 and 25 driver points by NASCAR for admitting to intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain at Phoenix on a podcast. Hence, it is understandable that he is closely following the developments. However, as evident from his tweet, Hamlin?could not believe the Appeal Panel’s decision. Upset by it he wrote on Twitter, “Hell, I don’t even know anymore.”

Furthermore, Hamlin used this opportunity to remind the fans that he was fined a hefty amount of money and driving points within 24 hours of discussing his race on his podcast.

Moreover, just like HMS, Denny Hamlin has appealed NASCAR’s decision. Citing that his actions were an example of “common hard racing that happens each and every weekend,” Hamlin claimed that his actions were not detrimental to the sport.

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Hamlin will appear in front of the National Motorsports Appeals Panel for his hearing on April 6. Moreover, after the recent HMS decision, it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is expecting a similarly lenient decision by the panelists in his case.

Rick Hendrick thanks NASCAR Appeals Panel while NASCAR expresses disappointment

After NASCAR announced the hefty penalties for Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing, Chad Knaus, Vice President of Competition at HMS, opened up about their side of the story. Following this, HMS released an official statement revealing its intention to appeal the decision.

After the NASCAR Appeals Panel rescinded the points penalty, Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick issued a statement thanking the panel. He said,

“We are grateful to the National Motorsports Appeals Panel for their time and attention. Today’s outcome reflects the facts, and we’re pleased the panel did the right thing by overturning the points penalty. It validated our concerns regarding unclear communication and other issues we raised. We look forward to focusing on the rest of our season, beginning with this weekend’s race at Richmond (Raceway).”

However, just like Denny Hamlin and the fans, the governing body expressed its disappointment with the panel’s decision. Sharing that NASCAR is ‘“disappointed that the entirety of the penalty was not upheld,” the governing body reiterated that a point penalty serves as a strong deterrent in any type of Rule Book violation in the garage.

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