Hamlin’s pit boss back on the box after serving six-race suspension
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MORE: Hamlin on crew chief’s return
JOLIET, Ill. – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief Darian Grubb said it was “a 27-cent part that came loose” that resulted in penalties to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team and driver Denny Hamlin at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier this year.
“It was actually new parts that week on our car,” Grubb said Friday at Chicagoland Speedway, site of Sunday’s MyAFibStory.com 400 (ESPN, 2 p.m. ET). “It was a nut plate that is used as an aircraft fastener and it didn’t have enough torque on it, and it backed off and came loose.
“It’s something that we’ve taken out of the cars and have never seen again and never seen before.”
Grubb is back at the track following a six-week suspension for the violation. Grubb was fined $125,000 while car chief Wesley Sherrill was also suspended for six weeks. Hamlin and JGR team president J.D. Gibbs (listed as the team owner) were docked 75 points each as well.
The fastener failure resulted in ductwork becoming loose inside the No. 11 car.
“It’s not a gray area,” Grubb said of the infraction, “not anything intentional. There’s not any real performance gain there. Everybody in the garage uses those same covers and they came loose the week they shouldn’t have.”
Team engineer Mike Wheeler served as interim crew chief in Grubb’s absence. Hamlin scored three top 10s in Grubb’s absence, and enters this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup as the ninth seed
“NASCAR does a great job of policing the sport,” Grubb said. “It’s the same templates and the same work that you have to do every week. … You have to meet NASCAR’s rules and you have to do that every week.”
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