The cup light series has been dominated by the JGR #18 and #20 Toyotas. In fact these two teams account for 13 wins of 25 cup light events. Impressive, maybe too impressive.
THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER is reporting;
After Saturday’s Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR tested several cars on the chassis dynamometer, which measures rear-wheel horsepower, as officials have done several times this season.
During the test, NASCAR officials discovered magnets on the accelerator pedals of the two Gibbs Toyotas. Several sources said the magnets could, in theory, keep the pedals from being fully depressed, which would limit the engines’ output and distort the data available to officials.
“This was an attempt to interfere with NASCAR’s post-race inspection process, and we are taking it very seriously,” said Jim Hunter, vice president of corporate communications for the sanctioning body.
Hunter would not go into detail about what NASCAR officials found, but said both teams faced penalties, which would be announced early next week. No action would be taken at the track this weekend, he said.
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Grumpy’s take: The fallout from this little caper should be shaking the ground. We shall see just how NA$CAR deals with this. Everything should be on the table, owner points, fines, suspensions, the works. This is a major black eye for Joe Gibbs, who has a reputation of running things by the book. It is easy for me to make the jump from this incident to be suspect of things that may have occurred on the cup side.
You can bet that if the #18 wins at MIS today, they will get their car back in a basket after post race inspection. Anyway, that is what Grumpy would expect.
I can’t wait for the morning shows on ESPN2 and SPEED!
****Update
ESPN analyst Tim Brewer said this morning; When NA$CAR impounds a car for inspection, an official is at the side of the car before the driver exits. No crewman is allowed to enter the car or get under the hood. Brewer’s conclusion is that the drivers, Tony Stewart and Joey Logano had to have placed the magnets under the gas pedals before exiting the cars.
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Statement released on behalf of NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs after NASCAR’s discovery of infractions during post-race Nationwide Series technical inspection at Michigan:
“If this alleged incident proves true, it goes against everything we stand for as an organization.
“We will take full responsibility and accept any penalties NASCAR levies against us. We will also investigate internally how this incident took place and who was involved and make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure that this kind of situation never happens again.
“The expectations we set for everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing begins with me, and I personally apologize to NASCAR, our partners and our fans for the negative light this situation has cast upon all of us.”
One Comment
LOL … just a little rabid on your wanting to know whether or not Rowdy’s gonna’ get NAILED later today, maybe, darlin’???
GRIN.
Still can’t dispute the fact that 1) that kid can RACE, and 2) with the COT-rules paralyzing advances of ANY kind in an engineering sense on individual teams’ fronts … whaddaya’ expect but a few CC’s to DO WHAT THEY DO — TRY to get that extra advantage, ANY way they can. COT or not, it’ll always BE that way, or else they’re not doin’ their jobs, Grump.
Tho … huge “ouch” for JGR, lol … and, no WONDER Smoke’s just hired a degreed ENGINEER as his second driver at Stewart-Haas, hehe ….
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