DW: Reverse cheating
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You always try to stretch and interpret the rules to gain an advantage. You always look to find that gray area where it will gain you a benefit. Those are the normal excuses we give when we get caught doing something we are not supposed to. But I will be dag gum if I have ever seen a team try to have a disadvantage. I am sure you are just like me and you know why this happened.
The engine guys, the chassis guys and the Gibbs guys must have all gotten together and decided that if they are going to chassis dyno the cars after Michigan, which is what they always do, well they wanted NASCAR to think the rule change a few weeks ago hurt them more than they thought it did. That had to be the mentality of the crew members and what they were thinking.
Why they would do that is beyond me. With the Toyota engines, cars, teams and drivers they have along with the success they are having, it just makes no sense for the Gibbs team to do that. I am sure Coach Gibbs and his son J.D. are saying the same thing. It makes no sense for them to do what they did.
More importantly, the Gibbs have to be saying, "Now look what you have done to our race teams. You have turned them upside down." Who knows what crew members think? Maybe somebody came up with a plan but it sure backfired on them.
Here's my solution to the problem. Sure, there will be a hefty fine. I am sure points will be taken away and there will be suspensions of personnel. Heads will roll and I think we all agree there is no question about that. I would make them leave those magnets under the accelerator. Just tell them, "OK, you want those magnets under there so they are going to stay there all the time."
I think that would be an "in your face" kind of penalty and serves the purpose. They obviously must think they have that much horsepower in reserve, so just leave those magnets under there. The throttle won't go wide open and they can just go race that way and see how that works out for you. That would be my part of the overall penalty.
The bottom line is for the life of me I don't know why they went to that much trouble. Probably that quarter-inch magnet they put under the accelerator would be worth about seven or eight horsepower, I would guess. It would be a slight drop in the horsepower but not very much. The throttle might only open 90 to 95 percent.
So now they have got themselves in a big mess and they made the team look bad. They have made Joe Gibbs look bad and they have tarnished what has been an absolute dream season for that whole organization. I feel sorry for Joe and J.D. Gibbs.
I know how crew members are. I have had many of my own over the years. I have had members come to me with bizarre ideas and how they can get by with it and not get caught. That's where you have to take off your owner hat and your driver hat and put on your official hat. Most teams go "best case" scenario, but I always went "worst case" scenario, so I would say "Boys, what if?" The risk/reward just didn't make sense.
Crew members get caught up in the heat of battle. They get in their competitive mode and they try to win races. All they think about is performance and how they can beat everyone else. I am sure there was some animosity because of Toyota being singled out in the Nationwide series with the rule change to reduce their horsepower. Unfortunately crew members sometimes don't think about the ramifications of their actions. They aren't the ones who have to deal with the end result because it's the owner, driver and crew chiefs that normally face the fire. It is very unfortunate in this case because Joe Gibbs is a quality guy
It's an unfortunate situation for Gibbs, but the good news is that it didn't involve the Cup cars. Kyle Busch ran great and almost pulled off a win. Tony ran pretty good. It sure didn't sound like much happened over the weekend that Denny Hamlin was happy about, but you'll have that.
The boys are headed to Bristol. Denny and Tony both could have won there this spring. All three will be strong Saturday night and I don't think what happened on the Nationwide side of things will affect them on the Cup side. Don't get me wrong, it did take away from a great effort on Sunday by the Gibbs camp.
It kind of reminds me of Kevin Harvick when NASCAR parked him for the Cup race at Martinsville based on his actions in the truck race there the day before. That's one of the downsides to racing in those preliminary events leading up to Sunday. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble and it spills over into Sunday and you sure don't need that.
You all beat me up week after week because of how I admire Kyle Busch's talents, but my favorite driver is Carl Edwards. I have said it a thousand times and I will say it a thousand times more: If I had to pick a driver to start a team with, it would be Carl. He's a kind of guy you can build a team around. It doesn't mean I don't like Dale Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, etc.
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I am proud of the effort Carl had over the weekend at Michigan. It is amazing to me, as much complaining that Jack Roush does about Toyota, that he can go out on Saturday and win and then on Sunday have four cars in the top five and >still complain about something going on in the Toyota camp. You don't make yourself look good by trying to make someone else look bad. I like Jack and I respect what he does but it sure doesn't make a lot of sense to win both days and complain about what someone else is doing.
Oh, by the way
I don't know whether anybody else caught this or not, but remember Michael McDowell's wreck in qualifying at Texas earlier this year? Remember how the car went into the wall and immediately started rolling? It seemed like the same thing was going to happen on Sunday with Dave Blaney in the No. 22 car. When he got into the wall the thing started up on two wheels but the fence knocked it back down. I think that could be an issue with this new car. We've talked in the past about the high-roll center and how top-heavy it is. That No. 22 car almost went for a tumble. It almost wanted to flip over. It does seem, like we have seen, when this car goes into a slow spin or a slide, that there is enough side-force with the big fat side on the car and the wing on the back, that it helps straighten the car back out. But I think Blaney's wreck almost could have been another McDowell tumble so this is something NASCAR is going to have to look at on this new car.
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