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A NASCAR BLOG BY Art Weinstein
NASCAR should have kept lid on Hendrick Motorsports story
More than a week later, I still don’t understand why NASCAR made an issue out of its inspection of the No. 48 and No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets after the Sprint Cup race at Dover.
Since the inevitable has happened, and some fans are still pointing the finger at those two teams for bending the rules, it’s time to point the finger at NASCAR.
To recount the issue, NASCAR officials announced Oct. 2 that after the Dover race, they had reinspected Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet and Mark Martin’s No. 5 Chevy at NASCAR’s R&D Center in Concord, N.C. Both cars passed, although they were right at the limit of tolerance in terms of template measurements. Johnson’s car had been taken to the R&D center because he’d won the race, while Martin’s car had been the random car chosen for inspection.
Officials for both teams were invited to talk with NASCAR officials to learn that, yes indeed, their cars had passed and were perfectly legal. They were warned, however, that the tolerances were so close – by a tiny fraction of an inch – that any anomaly in the future could create a situation in which the cars were out of compliance.
This, I believe, was a nice courtesy on NASCAR’s part, warning the teams of a possible future violation, one that would obviously result in a penalty and could cost either team a shot at the Sprint Cup championship.
That was a textbook way to handle the situation.
Then, Oct. 2 at Kansas Speedway, NASCAR officials publicly announced their findings, that both cars had barely passed inspection.
“There was no room to breathe,” Sprint Cup Director John Darby said.
The results of NASCAR’s announcement were very predictable. Fans who love to hate the Hendrick juggernaut immediately suspected that the teams had actually been caught cheating, but had caught a break from NASCAR. In fact, there were more than a few competitors in the garage area who suspected the same thing.
NASCAR’s announcement was wrong on a couple of levels. First, the issue was a distraction to both teams at Kansas.
"Believe me, if they weren't legal they wouldn't have been released,” Johnson said. “I hate that it's drawing speculation and concern, but the cars passed tech and here we are.”
More than the distraction and PR problems it caused for both teams at Kansas, by making the issue public, NASCAR has raised a cloud of suspicion over both teams. If either Martin or Johnson goes on to win the Sprint Cup championship, there will be naysayers who claim that they bent the rules to reach their goal. Those critics will be
small in number, but will make up for that in their outspokenness.
The fact remains that the cars were legal. One could argue those two teams were doing their jobs at an exceptional level, using every bit of room available to them within the rules to tweak their cars. There were obvious questions NASCAR didn’t address last weekend: How many other teams are pushing the limits to that extent each week? A handful? Most of them? Or how close are the other teams pushing the limits? And If the other teams are not using every inch of the rulebook given to them, why not?
Surely, NASCAR officials could have kept the lid on this situation. If the goal was to stir up controversy and earn some media coverage, then, mission accomplished. But that’s a high price to pay for such a short-term gain when, in the eyes of some fans and even competitors, the No. 48 and No. 5 teams will be under suspicion the rest of the season.
Art Weinstein
Managing Editor Art Weinstein has been covering NASCAR since 1995 and has worked at NASCAR Scene for 11 years.
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Comments
9 responses to "NASCAR should have kept lid on Hendrick Motorsports story". Post a Comment.
mrclause said:
Oct 11, 2009 at 9:54 AMNASCAR will trash or discredit anyone for their enrichment. It's gotten worse with Pembertons big ego filled mouth. It was a childlike effort to draw attention to a non-issue!
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttom91194 said:
Oct 11, 2009 at 2:14 PMArt, why would nascar tell the teams anything except whether they passed or failed? That would have been text book and fair for all teams. It's just more small favors done for the chosen few. And they wonder why people like me no longer spend Sundays watching "The Show"
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmar38gr said:
Oct 11, 2009 at 2:20 PMI agree with you, I cannot understand why they said anything at all to the public. when both cars were perfectly legal, why on earth would you stir the pot up with some kind of story that could cause some kind of ugly accusation against innocent people again, like nascar really needs anymore bad controversy. What were they thinking???????
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmelanschool said:
Oct 11, 2009 at 9:35 PMWell here goes take 3.
Report as AbuseBoth the 48 - race winner - so thats self explanatory, as well as the 5 - fourth place cars are going to R&D yet again.
Why hasn't Montoya's car been taken even once - since he suddenly starting piling up the top 5s. Makes you go hmm as DW likes to say.
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» Confirm Abuse Report33clintfan33 said:
Oct 12, 2009 at 2:30 PMTheres just too many rules. Plain and simple. No consistency. They did bring controversy into the chase. And all you can say is, Why? Rediculous
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAndi said:
Oct 12, 2009 at 7:24 PM#4...because Nascar takes only two cars back to the R&D center. That's the winner and a random car. (Could be any car in the field, despite where they finish) They'll take the engine of the top 2 finishers and again another one is selected at random back to the R&D center. So the 42 probably has been to the R&D center at some point this year, and we might not have known it.
Report as AbuseAs for the 48 & 5....I don't think Nascar should have revealed that, but I thought that, that Claire B. Lang is the first who reported it and then it was released publicly. And the fact that nascar keeps taking those two cars back each week rather they win or not, or are the random car chosen or not....just doesn't look right. Though Rick did challenge Nascar by saying, he doesn't care if he takes those two cars back to the R&D center for the rest of the season, he knows they'll pass.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgwen_susie388 said:
Oct 13, 2009 at 8:15 PMProbably one reason they take those two are because the fans want to know why they are so fast. So NASCAR can take them back and come back with they bend the rules but they didn't break them. That is suppose to satisfy the fans I guess. They make it look like they (NASCAR) are worried they might be doing something illegal. Gimme a break! OMG they want a Hendricks car to win four in a row Championship! Again I am a Dale,JR. fan. Not a Hendrick fan!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportphillipwafford said:
Oct 18, 2009 at 4:15 AMthe best offence is a good defence they want you to believe they are on top of the game but for crying out loud why does everyone believe every thing NASCAR says is the truth everyone has to DO what they say but we don't have to BELIEVE every thing they "SAY" is the "TRUTH" and as far as Hendrick is concerned isn't he the one that was convicted of tax FRAUD and is not FRAUD just a upper class "LIE"
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHateda88 said:
Oct 25, 2009 at 3:13 AMNascar can't keep a lid on anything why is anyone surprised?
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