Michigan Controversy and Criticism Abound.
By Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
The weekend at Michigan brought with it a fair amount of controversy in the Nationwide race with some post-race
trickery and a lot of criticism in the Sprint Cup event for big name Cup teams struggling with set up, pit stops,
handling issues and mechanical failures.
The Controversy in the Nationwide Series.
In the Nationwide series race, it was alleged that with one of the Joe Gibbs Racing entries post-race, some activity
took place that was questioned when the person in charge of removing the driver’s gear spent a little extra time
inside the car which sent up a red flag with the NASCAR officials.
Upon inspection it was discovered that there were some magnetic ‘strips’ placed under the gas pedal in the car to
prevent it from fully depressing. After the discovery of the strips in the first car, the other team’s entry was
inspected to find the same unapproved ‘modifications’.
Why…? It was ‘alleged’ that that the strips were placed to throw off the chassis dyno test about to be ordered by
NASCAR by showing an engine disparity instead of a higher horsepower advantage.
J.D. Gibbs in a press conference pulled no punches when he lambasted whichever team member(s) took it upon
themselves to try to trick the governing body. He commented that there was no reason to show a handicap larger
than what had already been imposed on the Toyota engines after a smaller ‘tapered spacer’ rule was
implemented on them.
Joe Gibbs Racing is a team that has stood on their morals since day one and anyone in the garage area not only
knows that, but believes that they are not a team that would get orders from high above to implement such a ‘trick’.
It has been discussed if the strips could have possibly been there the entire race and if not who placed them there.
It made no sense for the strips that would limit horsepower to be there for the entire race so the suspects became
the drivers and the above mentioned ‘gear jockey’.
One of the drivers of the suspect cars was Tony Stewart who probably would not participate in such an expected
frowned upon activity [if caught], especially since he has a new hat to wear as team owner in the Cup series in
2009.
Nothing that could be gained by participating in such a deal would have had one ounce of benefit to Stewart, so
look for the ‘indictments’ to come down on some team personnel and managers, not drivers or owners.
The other driver was Joey Logano who could arguably go drive for any team in any of the series without being
asked to do such a deed.
Tony Stewart finished 3rd in the event and Logano finished 7th.
Criticisms in the Cup Race.
The theme for some in the Cup race was a track that started out fairly cool and became slick as it heated up during
the race. Radio communications could be summed up with three words in regards to how the driver felt their cars
was handling, “loose, loose & loose”. Add to that some mechanical failures for some of the teams that where
hovering around the top 12 in points and blame begins to fly.
Denny Hamlin removed everyone on his team from his Christmas card list and Kasey Kahne was bewildered at
the sudden failure of his Dodge power plant.
Then the criticisms of the crew chiefs began with both Tony Eury, Jr. of the no. 88 team and Steve Letarte calling
the shots for Jeff Gordon. The pits stops being a reflection of the crew chief did not bode well for Letarte’s
popularity amongst Gordon’s fans, nor did the fact that the car was pretty much junk from the drop of the green flag.
Jeff Gordon was frustrated after his tangle with teammate Jimmie Johnson indicating that what frustrated him more
than the incident itself was the fact that he was back there at all because of some slow pit stops. The contact cut
down a tire on lap 97 and put him in the wall. He finished 42nd in the race after retiring on lap 174.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started out like gangbusters leading 43 laps early in the going, but in a manner reminiscent of
last season began to fade as the race progressed. The only thing lacking was Earnhardt calling the wreck 2 laps
before it happened which is something that he probably stopped doing after being penalized for bringing out a
caution on purpose by spinning his car.
The pressure is on for a lot of the teams to perform or at least have a decent finish heading into the cutoff point of
the chase. This might explain of lot of the flared tempers and derogatory comments post race and during the race
on the radio communications.
Stay tuned for the Bristol night race which has a history of converting the most mild mannered drivers into
aggressive, retaliatory pilots of a 3400 lb. stock car. The sparks will be flying and they will be highly visibly in the
dark of the night. Any question why the fans love Bristol?
By Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
The weekend at Michigan brought with it a fair amount of controversy in the Nationwide race with some post-race
trickery and a lot of criticism in the Sprint Cup event for big name Cup teams struggling with set up, pit stops,
handling issues and mechanical failures.
The Controversy in the Nationwide Series.
In the Nationwide series race, it was alleged that with one of the Joe Gibbs Racing entries post-race, some activity
took place that was questioned when the person in charge of removing the driver’s gear spent a little extra time
inside the car which sent up a red flag with the NASCAR officials.
Upon inspection it was discovered that there were some magnetic ‘strips’ placed under the gas pedal in the car to
prevent it from fully depressing. After the discovery of the strips in the first car, the other team’s entry was
inspected to find the same unapproved ‘modifications’.
Why…? It was ‘alleged’ that that the strips were placed to throw off the chassis dyno test about to be ordered by
NASCAR by showing an engine disparity instead of a higher horsepower advantage.
J.D. Gibbs in a press conference pulled no punches when he lambasted whichever team member(s) took it upon
themselves to try to trick the governing body. He commented that there was no reason to show a handicap larger
than what had already been imposed on the Toyota engines after a smaller ‘tapered spacer’ rule was
implemented on them.
Joe Gibbs Racing is a team that has stood on their morals since day one and anyone in the garage area not only
knows that, but believes that they are not a team that would get orders from high above to implement such a ‘trick’.
It has been discussed if the strips could have possibly been there the entire race and if not who placed them there.
It made no sense for the strips that would limit horsepower to be there for the entire race so the suspects became
the drivers and the above mentioned ‘gear jockey’.
One of the drivers of the suspect cars was Tony Stewart who probably would not participate in such an expected
frowned upon activity [if caught], especially since he has a new hat to wear as team owner in the Cup series in
2009.
Nothing that could be gained by participating in such a deal would have had one ounce of benefit to Stewart, so
look for the ‘indictments’ to come down on some team personnel and managers, not drivers or owners.
The other driver was Joey Logano who could arguably go drive for any team in any of the series without being
asked to do such a deed.
Tony Stewart finished 3rd in the event and Logano finished 7th.
Criticisms in the Cup Race.
The theme for some in the Cup race was a track that started out fairly cool and became slick as it heated up during
the race. Radio communications could be summed up with three words in regards to how the driver felt their cars
was handling, “loose, loose & loose”. Add to that some mechanical failures for some of the teams that where
hovering around the top 12 in points and blame begins to fly.
Denny Hamlin removed everyone on his team from his Christmas card list and Kasey Kahne was bewildered at
the sudden failure of his Dodge power plant.
Then the criticisms of the crew chiefs began with both Tony Eury, Jr. of the no. 88 team and Steve Letarte calling
the shots for Jeff Gordon. The pits stops being a reflection of the crew chief did not bode well for Letarte’s
popularity amongst Gordon’s fans, nor did the fact that the car was pretty much junk from the drop of the green flag.
Jeff Gordon was frustrated after his tangle with teammate Jimmie Johnson indicating that what frustrated him more
than the incident itself was the fact that he was back there at all because of some slow pit stops. The contact cut
down a tire on lap 97 and put him in the wall. He finished 42nd in the race after retiring on lap 174.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started out like gangbusters leading 43 laps early in the going, but in a manner reminiscent of
last season began to fade as the race progressed. The only thing lacking was Earnhardt calling the wreck 2 laps
before it happened which is something that he probably stopped doing after being penalized for bringing out a
caution on purpose by spinning his car.
The pressure is on for a lot of the teams to perform or at least have a decent finish heading into the cutoff point of
the chase. This might explain of lot of the flared tempers and derogatory comments post race and during the race
on the radio communications.
Stay tuned for the Bristol night race which has a history of converting the most mild mannered drivers into
aggressive, retaliatory pilots of a 3400 lb. stock car. The sparks will be flying and they will be highly visibly in the
dark of the night. Any question why the fans love Bristol?
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