In response to NASCAR suspending two key member of their over-the-wall pit crew, Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team have elected to defer that suspension a week, meaning that it will be served over the races at Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
Hamlin will be without ‘Joel B’ Bouagnon and Austin Maloney due to the loss of a right front wheel during the Bristol Night Race on Saturday. This a safety rule NASCAR has implemented to ensure that teams tighten their wheels to prevent them from becoming a projectile during the race.
Nevertheless, NASCAR rules also allow for a deferral up to a week to allow teams to implement a strategy. This also prevents teams from appealing the suspensions and dropping it after that race weekend, effectively wasting everyone’s time on process.
For the JGR 11 team, they may also view this weekend, the first of the second round of the playoffs as their best chance to win and render the next two weeks largely moot or to bank a lot of points and set themselves up well in advance of Kansas and the ROVAL.
Objectively, Hamlin’s worst track type is road courses so it also makes no sense for him to have his pit crew for that race anyway.