Joe Gibbs Racing could face severe penalties for infractions discovered during an inspection following Saturday’s Nationwide Series Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
“There was a piece there that apparently wouldn’t let the pedal go all the way down in the dyno, and it showed like we had less horsepower than we actually did,” JGR team president J.D. Gibbs said. “Let me just say, first and foremost, that was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys there at JGR. I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to the Toyota guys.
Gibbs said drivers Joey Logano and Tony Stewart were not involved. Stewart, running his last Nationwide race for JGR, finished third and Logano seventh.
NASCAR traditionally hands out penalties from the previous week’s races on Tuesday, but NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said the decision was put off until Wednesday.
NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Sunday the two teams put magnets a quarter-inch thick under the gas pedals on their cars in an attempt to hide how much horsepower the Gibbs motors still have even after recent rule change.
The two cars have combined to win 14 of Toyota’s 15 victories in 25 Nationwide races this season. To temper that domination, NASCAR last month ordered all Toyota teams to cut about 15 horsepower in their motors.
J.D. Gibbs, the team’s president, said the team will accept whatever punishment comes its way. That said, he also doesn’t think the team’s actions at Michigan International Speedway take away from the fact that Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have combined to win 14 of the year’s 25 races.
“I would say if it was an on-track thing it definitely would stain it, but being an off-track thing and kind of playing around with the dyno, personally I don’t see how that would affect those wins there,” Gibbs said. “Again, hey, it’s still a serious issue with NASCAR even if it is off of the track and went to the dyno. There’s no reason for [doing] that.”
“If you can’t abide by that, go find somewhere else [where] you can do it,” Gibbs said. “It’s not worth it for us. Hopefully that’s the history that we have. I think if you look back that’s the way it is. So we’ll deal with this and move on. It’s obviously frustrating for all of us.”
| 
|