CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR suspended seven crew members of Joe Gibbs Racing and stripped drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano of 150 points each Wednesday for cheating after last weekend’s Nationwide Series race.
Crew chiefs Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers were suspended indefinitely and fined $50,000 each, but NASCAR decided not to bar the cars from future races.
Owner Joe Gibbs said he would not appeal the penalties. He indicated he would also personally fine the crew members involved and suspend them through the end of the season.
“We want to apologize to NASCAR, all of our partners, all of our families at JGR, and all of our fans for the unfortunate incident that took place this past weekend in Michigan with our two Nationwide teams,” 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.”
No. 18 car chief Dorian Thorsen, engine tuner Michael Johnson and crew member Toby Bigelow and No. 20 car chief Richard Bray and engine tuner Dan Bajek also received indefinite suspensions. JGR was docked 150 owner points for each car and the teams were placed on probation for the rest of the season.
After Stewart finished third in Saturday’s race at Michigan International Speedway in the No. 20 car and Logano was seventh in the No. 18, inspectors found magnets under the gas pedals of both cars when they were sent to the chassis dyno for examination. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the teams were attempting to mask the cars’ true horsepower.
“In 17 years we have never had any representative of Joe Gibbs Racing knowingly act outside of NASCAR’s rules, and that is something we consider essential to how we operate on a daily basis,” Gibbs said. “What we have determined is that these individuals involved used extremely poor judgment in attempting to alter the results of NASCAR’s dyno test following Saturday’s Nationwide Series race in Michigan.
“Although in no way was anything done that might have altered the race outcome, these JGR employees attempted to circumvent the NASCAR rule book and that is unacceptable.”
The discovery of using magnets to try to prevent the gas pedal from reaching the floor came as Gibbs’ No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas have dominated this season. They’ve combined to win 14 of 25 Nationwide races and NASCAR last month ordered all Toyota teams to cut about 15 horsepower in their motors.
The No. 20 car’s lead in the owners standing was cut to 168 over the No. 2 car owned by Richard Childress Racing.
The penalties, among the most severe handed down by NASCAR, comes as the sanctioning body continues to take a harder stance on cheating.
NASCAR took away 150 driver points from Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion was fined $100,000 and suspended six races for bringing an illegal car to Daytona in July.
But JGR, which has prided itself on running a squeaky-clean operation, had rarely come under scrutiny from NASCAR. Before last weekend, the last time a JGR car came under suspicion was in 2003 when Stewart’s car was impounded after failing inspection before it hit the track at Texas Motor Speedway.
The point deductions mean little to Stewart, who was racing in his final Nationwide race for JGR, and Logano, who has run a partial schedule since turning 18 earlier this year. But Gibbs said he didn’t agree with placing the drivers on probation, claiming they had no knowledge of the cheating.
NASCAR on Wednesday also fined Sprint Cup driver Reed Sorenson’s crew chief Donnie Wingo $25,000 after the car was found to have an improperly attached weight in Sunday’s race at Michigan.
Both the No. 18 and No. 20 cars were found to be in violation of Sections 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 8-9 (competitive analysis – from time to time, NASCAR may determine, in the interest of competition, that it is necessary or appropriate to undertake an analysis of the performance capabilities of a car, car part, component or equipment. The Competitor shall take whatever steps are requested by NASCAR Officials for this purpose. NASCAR also has the right to seal or impound cars, car parts, components and/or equipment for this purpose); 12-4-Q (1): (car, car parts, components and/or equipment used that do not conform to NASCAR rules, detailed in Section 20A of the 2008 NASCAR Rule Book, or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event, or is not required for the normal functional operation of the race car, or has been altered to detract from or compromise its integrity or effectiveness, whether operational or not); 12-4-K: (when NASCAR Officials mandate inspection during the Event, if any car, car parts, components, and/or equipment which have been used in the Event are taken from the racing premises without permission of a NASCAR Official, or are tampered with by any member of the team or anyone associated with the team: Magnetic spacer attached under the gas pedal with the intent of compromising the chassis dynamometer test).
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