[likearock00]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Joe Gibbs Racing has suspended two Nationwide Series crew chiefs for the remainder of the season in the wake of penalties handed down by NASCAR after rule violations were discovered by inspectors prior to post-race testing on the chassis dynamometer Aug. 16 at Michigan.

NASCAR announced that seven crew members -- including No. 18 crew chief Jason Ratcliff and No. 20 crew chief Dave Rogers -- have been placed on indefinite suspension.

In response, team owner Joe Gibbs said in a statement: "A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization, and 100 percent of the blame rests with us."

Gibbs also noted that JGR would adding its own penalties to the team members on top of NASCAR's sanctions.

"We had come to the conclusion that we would add to any NASCAR imposed penalties with the minimum being suspension for the remainder of the season for those involved, including our two Nationwide Series crew chiefs. There will also be an additional monetary fine beyond the amount announced by NASCAR earlier today, which will be the responsibility of those involved."

A JGR spokesman confirmed to NASCAR.COM that team has suspended the seven crew members for the remainder of the season.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/bg/08/20/jlogano.tstewart.jgr.penalties/index.html

 

[RamJet502]

Its funny that Mr. Gibbs didn't agree with probation for the drivers involved because they didn't know about the cheating. I think we all know that plausable deniability doesn't work in sports (except for Barry Bonds).

 

[Co27sskid]

This isn't as interesting as if it was Mr. Buch's Sprint Cup ride.

Granted the Nationwide series #20 car has been cleaning up down there, but still just kinda blah.

Still tho... Hendricks > Gibbs

 

[jbernie]

I saw in one of the articles on foxsports.com something about team members (not the drivers) seen leaning into the cars after the race was over which could have been when the spacers were inserted.

Just don't see someone telling Tony Stewart to just slip this spacer under your accelerator to help us out without the guy potentially getting punched by Tony. Tony hasn't always been perfect on the track with some incidents where he should have given more, but I don't see the guy trying to cheat like this. And Logano has a lot to lose doing it as he is trying to break into the top ranks.

Also, given neither Stewart or Logano were in any contention for the Championship etc as they are both doing part time racing, I think their penalties should be added onto the team penalties. Logano's only had 5 races or so.

 

[LBTheDawg]

Oh No!!!!

Double Secret Probation!!!!

Strange that nothing changes in any rules for the cars but the Toyota check has already cleared into the WWE..... Er..... NA$CAR account.

 

[dindak]

They should have had some points taken away also.

They are lucky Kyle and Tony weren't involved.

 

[tirediron]

I think they should fine Kyle for being probably the ugliest human ever born.

 

[texassierradude]

I think they should fine Kyle for being probably the ugliest human ever born.

How immature is this?

 

[Whitesky]

Anytime something bad happens to Toyota "racing" is a good day in my book.

I think they should fine Kyle for being probably the ugliest human ever born.

Apparently you have never seen Sarah Jessica Parker.

 

[tirediron]

Anytime something bad happens to Toyota "racing" is a good day in my book.



Apparently you have never seen Sarah Jessica Parker.

ha ha!
Good Point!

And texassierradude--- I'm just trying to have fun! why does everything have to be so serious here? Geesh!

 

[bone]

A decent penalty for a truly blatant cheating scenario. What is Toyota's take on this? When Waltrip's cars were found with illegal gas last year, they had a lot to say.

 

[slowinthefastlane]

Here's a way to deal with the cheating: get rid of the rules and formula cars. Let 'em run what they bring to the track. That would bring NASCAR too close to real racing and too close to its roots, though.

 

[triadecho]

I think they should fine Kyle for being probably the ugliest human ever born.

Perhaps drivers should be supplied from central casting like in Days of Thunder?

$50,000 fine on each crew chief seems light by NASCAR standards, but boys will be boys.

 

[Jason G]

They should have had some points taken away also.

They are lucky Kyle and Tony weren't involved.

These fine were assessed to the Nationwide teams, not the Sprint Cup teams.
I wish it was Kyle Busch, too.

 

[mike's 01ws6]

How immature is this?

Why was that immature, do you think Kyle is cute or somehting?

 

[jbernie]

Having read this article:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/8471042/Tough-penalties-were-needed-for-JGR

Specifically....

"But that wasn't all the Gibbs engine department was working on. Crew members not only devised a specific slot to hold the spacer, but also invested the time in finding out the approximate length the spacer had to be to knock approximately eight to 10 horsepower off the engine during the dyno test. "

I think Nascar went easy on them, thats too much work done to make it happen, maybe as it was a first time (serious) offense by the teams? Given the number of wins JGR have this year, at least $100k per team. They broke the single season wins record of 12 or 13 races set by RCR last year in 18 or 19 races.... and only then because they had a few wrecks in there by Kyle.

 

[wnsfmike]

They should have had some points taken away also.

They are lucky Kyle and Tony weren't involved.

Tony Stewart, who drove the No. 20 car at Michigan, and Joey Logano in the 18 were docked 150 championship points and placed on probation through the end of this year. Team owner Joe Gibbs also was penalized 150 points on both of the entries. :yup:

 

[DarkKnight67]

If they were doing it in Nationwide, whose to say they haven't been pulling the same crap in NASCAR? You can't tell me that Kyle's car is able to pull away from the other drivers all the time coming from the back/middle of the pack.

 

[Triple-X08]

completely under justified. these guys should be stripped of points majorly, who knows how long this has been going on for.

makes you wonder what else they have been hiding, especially in the cup series.

 

[IROCNROL1]

ha ha!
Good Point!

And texassierradude--- I'm just trying to have fun! why does everything have to be so serious here? Geesh!

I'm glad you cleared that up. I almost started crying.