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Hendrick Motorsports went before the three-person Appeals Panel on October 6 and tried to overturn the penalties issued to William Byron. The panel listened to the case and made some major changes to the original penalties issued by NASCAR.
According to a press release, the Appeals Panel rescinded the 25-point driver and owner penalties issued to Byron after he spun Denny Hamlin under caution at Texas Motor Speedway. The three-person panel noted that he had violated rules in the original penalty, but it opted to give back the points and simply increase his fine from $50,000 to an even $100,000.
With this significant alteration, Byron is now back above the cutline. He went from 10th in the standings and 11 points below the cutline to seventh in points. He is now two points ahead of Daniel Suarez, who sits in the final transfer spot, and he is 14 points ahead of Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric.
Denny Hamlin’s Crew Chief Had Some Strong Words
GettyDenny Hamlin (top) was on the losing side of the appeal.
There were several responses to the decision by the Appeals Panel. Some supported the decision while others had some comments in opposition. Chris Gabehart, Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, also weighed in with some strong words.
Gabehart appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on October 6 and made it clear that he did not appreciate this decision by the Appeals Panel. He said that it essentially resulted in a points penalty to Hamlin, who was on the receiving end of the hit under caution.
Im not sure what’s more upsetting…
He literally got away with it
Nascar turned a blind eye
We ran a 500 mile race before they gave him points back
Phoenix – let’s do it again and when it does it’s on nascar.
“Our industry, through no particular fault, has managed to get this so wrong,” Gabehart said during his appearance. “We have now only effectively penalized the 11 [team] points for the incident that went down under caution at Texas when the 11 car was spun by the 24. That’s what happened. That’s the effect of the penalty.”
Gabehart continued and explained that Hamlin was about to pit for right-side tires and fuel before getting spun by Byron. He would have done so in front of Tyler Reddick, who ultimately went on to win the Cup Series race. Instead of fighting the Richard Childress Racing driver for the win, Hamlin had to fight for a top-10 finish.
“So there’s a very good chance we were going to come off pit road ahead of him and race him for the win,” Gabehart continued. “Instead, we restarted 22nd and managed to scramble to 10th. And the reason we restarted 22nd is the 24, and they ended up getting no points penalty.”
Chris Lambert, Hamlin’s spotter, also provided some thoughts on the decision. He tweeted that “the penalty was way more severe for the recipient of the action than it was for the giver of the infraction.”
Byron Now Has a Solid Path to the Round of 8
Getting the points back does not guarantee that Byron will automatically move on to the Round of Eight. Another driver below the cutline could leapfrog him if he had an on-track incident that ended his day early.
What it does do, however, is make this path easier. Byron no longer has to worry about overtaking two other drivers and finishing a certain number of spots ahead of him. He can simply try to stack points in the early stages at the Charlotte Roval and try to stay above the playoff cutline.
Whether this happens remains to be seen. Byron has two top-10 finishes in four starts at the North Carolina road course, and he was in contention to fight for the win in 2021 before contact from Tyler Reddick made him miss a corner. He should be one of the names to watch during the race, provided Hamlin does not exact any payback.
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Appeals Panel Majorly Changes William Byron’s Penalty