NASCAR standings 2014: Denny Hamlin finishes 3rd; NASCAR seizes parts from car

Denny Hamlin finished third Sunday, but is facing possible penalties after NASCAR removed suspicious parts from his car.

INDIANAPOLIS -- An up and down weekend continued for Denny Hamlin when following a third-place finish Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway NASCAR confiscated parts off his car during post-race inspection.

A NASCAR spokesman said no violations were committed but the firewall block-off plates seized from the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing car "could have some possible issues." Any potential penalties would likely be announced Tuesday.

Block-off plates are designed to prevent smoke, fire and fluids from getting into the cockpit. If air was allowed to flow through the block-off plates it could give a car an aerodynamic advantage.

That his car ran afoul of NASCAR's rules after a third-place finish was symbolic of Hamlin's Brickyard 400 experience.

After struggling in qualifying Saturday and posting just the 27th-fastest time, an exasperated Hamlin told ESPN the network didn't "have enough air time" for him to list all the problems hampering the No. 11 team.

"The way I woke up this morning, I would have taken 13th," Hamlin said post-race.

Yet once the green flag waved Sunday Hamlin was among the fastest on the track. He twice cycled into the lead following a series of pit stops and was well positioned to win.

Then a mistake on pit road occurred where the No. 11 crew didn't fully fuel the car. The error would force Hamlin to make an unplanned pit stop and any track position advantage he once had was gone.

"I was pretty confident we were going to win the race," Hamlin said. "If it all worked out, we were going to have a 15-second lead with enough fuel to make it. We were sitting really, really pretty to win this race."

Sprint Cup standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Wins
1	Jeff Gordon	717	2
2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	693	2
3	Brad Keselowski	666	3
4	Matt Kenseth	661	0
5	Jimmie Johnson	628	3
6	Kyle Busch	609	1
7	Ryan Newman	606	0
8	Carl Edwards	603	2
9	Joey Logano	591	2
10	Clint Bowyer	577	0
11	Denny Hamlin	572	1
12	Kevin Harvick	565	2
13	Kyle Larson	562	0
14	Austin Dillon	559	0
15	Kasey Kahne	555	0
16	Paul Menard	551	0
17	Greg Biffle	550	0
18	Brian Vickers	532	0
19	Tony Stewart	529	0
20	Marcos Ambrose	511	0
21	Jamie McMurray	499	0
22	Aric Almirola	496	1
23	AJ Allmendinger	466	0
24	Martin Truex Jr.	465	0
25	Kurt Busch	456	1
26	Casey Mears	455	0
27	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	397	0
28	Danica Patrick	382	0
29	Justin Allgaier	343	0
30	Michael Annett	325	0

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