Edwards won the race, but failed the inspection.

#26
#26
I knew there was some cheatin' going on for him to win the first 2 races of the year.

Jimmie Johnson 4 life...:rock:

I can say with about 99.9% certainty they checked the lid at Fontana too. The advantage isn't that great anyway.
 
#27
#27
They were penalized 25 in the nationwide series- the COT penalities will be much higher. Having the lid off allows more air flow that cools the oil which would allow for a few more horsepower. It also takes an air bubble out from under the car and allows it to handle better. Atleaste that is what the "experts" on ESPN said last night.
 
#29
#29
I would expect 100 to be the penalty, which could cost Edwards getting into the Chase. Any less will only increase the wailing voices supporting Robby Gordon already claiming a bias toward Gordon. If Gordon's violation was inadvertant, how do you justify penalizing Edwards less when his appears to be intentional?

Problem just solved! Nascar will not be docking Robby Gordon any points. They did raise the fine from 100K to 150K but no point penalty.
Edit: Just saw the Edwards penalty......Ouch!
 
#31
#31
I couldn't believe, I'm sure Nascar will find a more appropriate time to screw Robby during a race in the upcoming season
 
#32
#32
Yeah, the only reason there is a season this year is so NASCAR can screw Robby every chance they get.
 
#34
#34
Burton had a good point about Carls situation:

"One thing I have learned about these race cars is typically things don't fall off the cars," Jeff Burton said on Friday at wet Atlanta Motor Speedway. "Crew members typically don't leave the A frames loose, they typically don't leave brakes loose, the gauges don't fall out of them. We have highly trained mechanics that have rigorous check lists. But mistakes do happen. I don't know if they did it on purpose or not, nor do I claim to. But it did happen."
 
#35
#35
Here are Elliott Sadler's comments
“I think that it insults my intelligence as a race car driver when you try and tell me that you accidentally left the oil tank lid off,” Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler said. “If you go to any owner, any engineer, any driver, any crew chief and ask them is that an advantage, ‘Heck yeah, it’s an advantage,’

“I’ve been doing that half of my career. When driving the 21 and 38 car, we pulled the shifter boot off and the oil tank lid off until NASCAR started to tech it. It’s 100 pounds of (additional) downforce.”

That can make all the difference between a car that wins a race and one that finishes second, according to drivers in the garage area.


“Let me try and put this in perspective for you,” Sadler continued. “We spend $3-4 million dollars a year going to the wind tunnel trying to change body shapes, trying to do underneath the car, changing crush panels and doing stuff like that all the time - trying to get a gain and trying to get an advantage - when all you have to do is take the oil tank lid off and you get 100 counts of downforce.
 
#36
#36
Here are Elliott Sadler's comments
“I think that it insults my intelligence as a race car driver when you try and tell me that you accidentally left the oil tank lid off,” Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver Elliott Sadler said. “If you go to any owner, any engineer, any driver, any crew chief and ask them is that an advantage, ‘Heck yeah, it’s an advantage,’

“I’ve been doing that half of my career. When driving the 21 and 38 car, we pulled the shifter boot off and the oil tank lid off until NASCAR started to tech it. It’s 100 pounds of (additional) downforce.”

That can make all the difference between a car that wins a race and one that finishes second, according to drivers in the garage area.


“Let me try and put this in perspective for you,” Sadler continued. “We spend $3-4 million dollars a year going to the wind tunnel trying to change body shapes, trying to do underneath the car, changing crush panels and doing stuff like that all the time - trying to get a gain and trying to get an advantage - when all you have to do is take the oil tank lid off and you get 100 counts of downforce.

It becomes curiouser and curiouser!
 
#37
#37
By Sporting News Wire Service
March 8, 2008
10:22 AM EST

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Jack Roush is ready to take a polygraph exam to prove there was no intent or knowledge that his No. 99 team tried to cheat last week at Las Vegas.

The owner of Roush Fenway Racing was visually upset Friday that his driver, Carl Edwards, and crew chief, Bob Osborne, were accused of purposely rigging an oil cap to come loose during last Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400, which Edwards won. In post-race inspection, NASCAR discovered the oil cap was missing.

On Wednesday, Edwards was docked 100 driver points, dropping him from the Cup points lead to seventh in the standings. Roush was penalized 100 owner points, and Osborne was fined $100,000 and suspended six races

On Friday, Lee White, general manager for Toyota Racing Development, told USA Today that removal of the oil cap would provide up to 21 percent more downforce and as much as 50 horsepower. He added that he fully believed the Roush team knew what it was doing going into the race to create an competitive advantage.

That left Roush upset "The reason I'm here this morning is because I'm mad," he said Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. "I got woken up this morning to the news that Lee White, on behalf of Toyota, had made some disparaging remarks in the USA Today."

Roush defended his No. 99 team and stood to the team's initial statement that the missing bolt came off. His stance is that the vibration from the car forced the cap to unscrew.

"These racecars are very complex," Roush said. "There are lots of fasteners in them. Fasteners fail because they get hit and fasteners fail because the harmonics go through the car. Fasteners fail. How many times have we seen a shifter fall off a car, off a transmission because the drive shaft was a little rough? How many times have we seen a mirror fall off a car because a tire equalized?"

But few people inside the garage are buying that.

"You go to any owner, engineer, driver or crew chief and ask them if that's an advantage. Heck yeah, that's an advantage," said Elliott Sadler, who admitted his teams had done similar tactics in the past before NASCAR began policing it. "It's 100 pounds of downforce."

When asked whether he thought vibration was a possible reason behind the mishap, Ryan Newman also was blunt in his answer. "No -- because my car vibrates the same way and didn't come off," said Newman, who added that he felt that Edwards' penalty was justified. "Should've used a different bolt."

Pressed on the number of attachments used to keep an oil tank lid on, Newman said that varies.

"Depends on what team you're on," he said. "Looks like they used one."

Responded Roush: "Well, you could put a number of fasteners in it, and if they all didn't come loose, it would stay secure. One fastener is enough if it stays secure and keeping to the weight efficiency of the car, that's what you'd want to do."

Roush said it's standard procedure on all of his team cars to use one fastener, and that while some organizations in the garage choose to use tape as an insurance policy, he noted that Osborne elected not to.

Edwards wasn't as vocal about the ruling, but didn't shy away from taking a stab at his critics.

"It was an absolute mistake; there was no intent. And that's a reality," Edwards said. "The bottom line is I don't have anything going on Monday, so if Toyota or anyone else wants to line the cars up at Vegas and hire a flagman and run 400 laps again, I think I could do it on Monday."

Roush said the team has no intention of appealing the penalty, noting his past history of unsuccessful attempts and his lack of confidence in the appeals process.

"In 22 years of being involved with this thing, I've never gotten any relief and we've appealed several times," he said. "I think enlightenment is not one of the tools that would be useful for them. I think, for the most part, they're predisposed for one reason or the other and it's a rubber stamp thing."

Toyota issued a statement from White later in the evening with comments backing off his original statements.

"I don't know if the situation with the No. 99 car at Las Vegas was intentional," White said. "Obviously, I can't make that call. I drew the same circumstantial conclusion as others have. I will tell you categorically -- Jack Roush doesn't cheat. He never has, I'm absolutely certain that he doesn't now or ever will."
 
#38
#38
I say let take the polygraph, I'm curious to see what the results would be. He also said he would line up the Driver, crew chief, engineer and anyone else who has anything to do with the lid.

I'm also curious as to how it seemed to pass pre-race inspection if it was loose or not fastened or missing for that matter. Did some Nascar Official not do there job correctly or was it really a failure of the part (equipment)?

Will We ever know? ........ Duhn Duhn Duhn.......
 
#39
#39
I say let take the polygraph, I'm curious to see what the results would be. He also said he would line up the Driver, crew chief, engineer and anyone else who has anything to do with the lid.

I'm also curious as to how it seemed to pass pre-race inspection if it was loose or not fastened or missing for that matter. Did some Nascar Official not do there job correctly or was it really a failure of the part (equipment)?

Will We ever know? ........ Duhn Duhn Duhn.......

I think Darrell Waltrip gave the best comment on this deal. He said shame on the team, there were five cars that had a similar problem at Daytona. To only have one bolt holding it down after seeing other lids come loose is just asking for it to happen.
 

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