You couldn’t have drawn up a worse start for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team than what happened during the pace laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600.
As Hamlin left pit road and blended onto the banking of turn one, a large chunk of tungsten flew out from under his No. 11 Toyota Camry.
"That's a big, big deal and a huge safety concern."- @JeffGordonWeb on Denny Hamlin's car dropping ballast. pic.twitter.com/EM5lmuHRCp
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 24, 2020
NASCAR would force the No. 11 car back to pit road to reinstall another piece of tungsten so that the No. 11 car would be the correct weight. Hamlin spent eight laps on pit road to start the race, but that won’t be the worst of things.
The penalty in the NASCAR rule book for dropping a weight ballast from your car is severe.
Hamlin will likely be without his crew chief, car chief and head engineer for the next four NASCAR Cup Series events. NASCAR typically announces any post-race penalties early in the week.
