Joe Gibbs Racing's Dave Rogers realizes Michigan incident was a big mistake
ORLANDO, Fla. - Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series crew chief Dave Rogers admits he likely was caught up in a “moment of paranoia” when he helped engineer one the series’ biggest cheating scandals of 2008.
After the Michigan race in August, NASCAR tested horsepower of several cars via a chassis dynomometer. But NASCAR inspectors discovered magnetic spacers under the gas pedals of JGR’s No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas designed to project lower, false horsepower readings.
Toyota has been ordered to run a smaller tapered spacer on its engines after NASCAR said the manufacturer had a horsepower advantage.
Rogers, crew chief of the full-time No. 20 team, and Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for the No. 18 Camry, were indefinitely suspended. Four other JGR crew members were also suspended, and both teams were docked 150 points.
Rogers, who was also penalized by JGR, has since been reinstated by the team and was in attendance for the NASCAR Nationwide Series Awards Banquet in Orlando, Fla., Saturday. Ratcliff was there, too.
Rogers remains under NASCAR suspension, and Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said if he and the other suspended crew members apply for a 2009 NASCAR license, the sanctioning body will then review the application.
“Sometimes you get caught up in the moment, and that’s probably what I did,” Rogers said Nov. 21. “We were being attacked pretty hard in the media through our competitors. We had rules sanctioned against our manufacturer. We had a fantastic season going, a record-breaking season going. I probably just got caught up in the moment of paranoia: ‘Everybody is trying to ruin this. We have a wonderful thing going on, and everyone’s trying to take it from me.’ I probably just got caught up in that.”
JGR won 19 of 35 races in the series in 2008, including six in a row before the engine rule change.
Rogers was the butt of several jokes in activities surrounding the awards banquet. Champion Clint Bowyer jokingly called Rogers a “ghost” at a dinner honoring both championship teams on Nov. 20.
But Rogers isn’t worried whether he’ll carry the “cheater” label.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Rogers said. “I made a mistake, and I owned up to that mistake, and I didn’t make excuses. If you look back at my career, if you consider why I still work for Joe Gibbs Racing, that’s proof that throughout my career I’ve been an upstanding citizen. I don’t generally make these mistakes, and I feel the competitors I race against respect me for that.
“I know who I am. I know myself well enough to know that generally I don’t do that sort of thing. I had a lapse in judgment, made an error, but I don’t make a habit of it.”
Rogers said all the penalized crew members remain at JGR. Rogers said some of the crewmen who were suspended knew nothing about the incident and others were doing what they were told.
“Jason and I got the brunt of the penalty, and we should’ve,” Rogers said.
But Rogers is ready to move on.
“I can’t continue to beat myself up over it – although I have for a long time,” Rogers said. “I just have to be thankful for [team owner] Joe and [JGR President] J.D. Gibbs that they sought after my heart and said, ‘Where was your mind when you made this decision? How do we know that you’ll never do it again?’ They decided to keep me on board. I’ve just got to move on.”
