The No. 18 car was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-2.3A (improperly attached weight) of the 2012 NASCAR rule book.

Crew chief Dave Rogers was fined $25,000 and has been placed on NASCAR probation until October 3rd. Car chief Wesley Sherrill has also been placed on probation until October 3rd.

The three JGR crew chiefs were each fined $50,000 and placed on probation until the end of the calendar year.  All three car chiefs along with JGR’s senior vice president of racing operations were also placed on probation until the end of the year.

JGR brought unapproved oil pans to the track on Friday. A typical oil pan weighs about four pounds, while the JGR oil pans weighed between 20 and 30 pounds.

Some said that the heavy oil pans would allow the teams to remove weight elsewhere in the car and put it low on the front of the car, which could provide a handling advantage.

In my opinion, NASCAR is getting soft with their fines this season.  Remember in 2006 when Chad Knaus was ejected from Daytona Speedweeks?  He had a device that raised the rear window of Jimmie Johnson’s car, giving it an aerodynamic advantage in qualifying.  How about in 2005 when Todd Berrier was suspended for four weeks and fined $25,000 for doctoring a fuel cell on Kevin Harvick’s car at Las Vegas.

A $50,000 fine may be a bit stiff for the crew chiefs, but probation is basically a slap on the wrist. It’s NASCAR’s way of saying,  ”We’ll be watching you.” But, beyond that, it’s really not a penalty.

I think they should have received a points penalty. I think they should have lost owner’s points, and maybe even driver points.  It would be different if their oil pans were a pound or two heavier than usual.  But 20 to 30 pounds?  That was obviously done on purpose in an attempt to give the JGR cars an unfair advantage.

A move like this is unnecessary for the JGR cars.  As we saw this weekend at Michigan, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch didn’t need any help making their cars faster.

Every team tries to bend the rules to get any advantage they can. It’s the nature of the sport. But, if NASCAR wants to change that perception, they should make the penalties stiffer, including raising fines.

In this particular case, I think the fines were slightly fair, but not as high as I would have liked to see.

All three JGR cars were found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in an event does not conform to NASCAR rules detailed in Section 20 of the NASCAR rule book, or has not been approved by NASCAR prior to the event); and 20-5.5.4A (oil pan, failure to submit component) of the Sprint Cup Series rule book.

Crew chiefs Mike Ford (No. 11 car), Dave Rogers (No. 18 car) and Greg Zipadelli (No. 20 car) have been fined $50,000 each and placed on NASCAR probation until the end of the calendar year.

In addition, all three car chiefs – Chris Gillin (No. 11 car), Wesley Sherrill (No. 18 car) and Jason Shapiro (No. 20 car) along with Senior Vice President of Racing Operations Jimmy Makar have been placed on NASCAR probation until the end of the year.

The M&Ms Toyota Camry was found to be too low during the inspection following the 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono. The car was inspected three times.

NASCAR determined that the car was in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20-12.8.1B (body height requirements — car failed to meet the minimum front car heights) of the 2011 rule book.

Dave Rogers, crew chief of the No. 18 team, was fined $25,000, while owner Joe Gibbs and Busch have been penalized with the loss of six owner and six driver points, respectively.

Before the penalty was announced, Rogers said the car was 1/16th of an inch outside of NASCAR’s allowed tolerances. Rogers thought that a broken part may have caused the car to fail, as it passed pre-race inspection.

Rogers said:

It’s disappointing. I can’t tell you a whole lot right now. We sit on bump stops in these race cars. Your springs often don’t damage. We were struggling all weekend and we went back to what we raced last spring when we finished second. We put the same package in — same front shocks, same front springs. We went through tech just fine last year, but obviously everything has a year on it and everything is mileaged out. I don’t have any excuses for you. It’s the last thing I expected after the race.

Rogers said that the fender was damaged from bottoming out during the race. Busch also got into the wall, which caused more damage. Still, it’s not clear that any of that had to do with the car being too low.

Rogers said:

There is plenty of body damage, but nothing that I could look at and say, “Hey, NASCAR, here’s a problem.”

After the penalty was announced, JGR issued a statement:

We brought the No. 18 car back to our race shop and have identified the problem which caused us to measure low during the post-race inspection process in Pocono [Sunday] afternoon. We have made NASCAR aware of our findings and we accept the penalty they have issued.

Busch has won 12 Sprint Cup Series races since joining JGR in 2008. Despite winning eight races in 2008, Busch struggled in the Chase, and ended up finishing the season 11th in points. In 2009, he won four races but missed the Chase completely.

Busch also took home the Nationwide Series Championship, winning nine races last year driving a JGR Toyota.
 
JD Gibbs, president of JGR said:

We probably could’ve announced this earlier. We were just getting some of the details ironed out and finalized. Watching [Busch] grow off the track as well as on the track has been exciting for us. We look forward to many years together racing up front.

Busch said:

I see the organization is strong. I see the way Joey [Logano] really came along towards the end of the year and really got better. I saw the way Denny [Hamlin] ran – he had a shot to win the championship. Our stuff is there; it’s all about having the right people in the right place. Hopefully, Dave [Rogers] is that guy, and he and I can really develop a great relationship like Denny and Mike Ford have, and we can go forward and win races.

With Busch missing the Chase in 2009, his crew chief Steve Addington was replaced by Dave Rogers. Addington left JGR and joined Penske Racing to serve as crew chief for Kyle’s brother, Kurt.

Rogers said of the extension:

When I talked to Kyle before signing up for this, I knew he believed in what Joe and JD were doing. In my mind, it was kind of put to bed before I was ever signed up. But it’s certainly nice that it’s done, inked and the media knows it’s done and inked so we don’t have to answer those questions during the season and go through that distraction.

When Busch joined JGR last season, he and Addington won eight races and posted 17 top 5s, and 21 top 10s. Busch also led the points for 21 of the first 26 races, and he led the points for the 17 races leading up to the Chase. The team appeared unstoppable, and looked to be the odds-on favorite going into the Chase.

But the team faltered, opening the Chase at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a 34th-place finish thanks to a broken sway bar. The very next race at Dover International Speedway, the car started smoking about 150 laps into the race. The problem was thought to be a broken valve, and the engine blew. Busch finished 43rd. In the third race of the chase, at Kansas Speedway, Busch also had problems. The team had trouble diagnosing them, and Busch finished 28th.
 
In the 6th race of the Chase, Busch had more problems. He complained of brake issues early, then blew a tire and hit the wall. He stayed on track to bring out a caution, and NASCAR penalized him two laps for that. He blew right front tires two more times and finished 29th. He spent most of the Chase hovering between 10th and 12th in the points.

Leading into this season, many expected Busch to back up last year’s dominance. But, he has not. While he has won four races thus far this season, that’s nowhere near the eight he won in the same period a year ago.
 
Even more surprising, however, is that he has 9 top5s so far this season, compared to 16 during the same period a year ago. Also, up to this point last year, he had eight finishes of 20th or worse, he has 11 this season.

It’s hard to explain Busch’s drop off in performance this season, but it appears that Addington is being blamed. He may not be aggressively blamed for the team’s struggles, but he certainly is passively, because he is being replaced.

A driver doesn’t win 12 races over the last two seasons without being talented, so the only logical conclusions you can draw are that Busch has had a string of bad luck, and that the equipment is not up to par.
 
Well, you can’t change luck. But, you can attempt to change the equipment. And with that sort of change comes a crew chief change. Just ask Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Maybe Addington is to blame, maybe he isn’t. We won’t know until next season. And, even if Busch does come out of the gate strong, it doesn’t mean that the problems were necessarily with Addington. But, what the team is doing now is not working. I’m not sure a change needed to be made at this point, but I don’t think we’re all privy to the goings on between Addington and Busch. It could be that both sides felt like a change needed to be made.

Enter Dave Rogers, a Nationwide Series crew chief for JGR. He’s in his fourth season as crew chief, and he brought home the Nationwide Series’ owner’s championship in 2008, earning nine victories with four different drivers.
 
He has not worked as crew chief on a car-of-tomorrow, so the transition could be tough. Still, the people at JGR are willing to take a chance that Rogers can return this team to form. Next season, we’ll see whether they were right or wrong.

After confiscating nine Nationwide cars earlier in the season and checking their horsepower, NASCAR discovered that some Toyotas had as much as three percent more horsepower than the other makes.

As a result, NASCAR issued a technical bulletin that amended section 20A — 5.10.4 as follows:

At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing less than 4.470 inches must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.125-inch diameter holes. At all Events, unless otherwise specified, all engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more must compete using a tapered spacer with four (4) 1.100-inch diameter holes. Unless otherwise authorized, the carburetor restrictor will be issued by NASCAR.

After the Carfax 250, NASCAR found that Joe Gibbs Racing manipulated the throttle of its Toyotas so the tests would not be accurate.

NASCAR’s VP of competition, Robin Pemberton said:

In our post-race inspection, our inspectors discovered some shims that were placed on the gas-pedal stop. They were magnets that were about a quarter-inch thick that prevented the accelerator from going 100 percent wide open.

Today, NASCAR announced that seven JGR team members are suspended indefinitely — including crew chiefs Dave Rogers, of the No. 20, and Jason Ratcliff, of the No. 18.

Additional penalties are as follows:

• Tony Stewart and Joey Logano each will be penalized with a loss of 150 championship points and placed on probation until the end of the year. Joe Gibbs was also penalized 150 owner’s points for each of those entries.
• Ratcliff and Rogers were indefinitely suspended and fined $50,000 each.
• Dorien Thorsen, Michael Johnson, and Toby Bigelow, all of the No. 18, and Richard Bray, and Dan Bajek, of the No. 20, have been placed on indefinite suspension.

ESPN adds that JGR would not appeal the penalties and indicated it would also fine the crew members involved and suspend them through the end of the season. Joe Gibbs also made it clear that he had no knowledge of the cheating attempt.

The AP quotes Ratcliff as saying in response to the ammouncement:

I would like to apologize to the employees and partners of Joe Gibbs Racing. Because of poor decision making, I have failed you as the leader of this team and I am solely responsible for this situation. Secondly, I apologize to the men and women of NASCAR for my dishonesty and interference during a testing event.

Rogers said:

I accept the penalties imposed by NASCAR and Joe Gibbs Racing and make no excuses.

Racing One carried Toyota’s statement which said:

Toyota respects NASCAR’s rules and regulations and accepts the sanctions that were imposed against Joe Gibbs Racing. It is NASCAR’s responsibility to enforce their rules and we respect their decisions. Toyota always has, and will continue to, abide by all NASCAR-mandated policies.

Toyota also commended JGR for the way it handled the situation and quickly owned up to the penalties.

Also of note, NASCAR fined Donnie Wingo, crew chief of Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 41 Sprint Cup entry, driven by Reed Sorenson, $25,000 after the car was found to have an improperly attached weight in Sunday’s 3M Performance 400 race at Michigan.

SceneDaily, the Charlotte Observer, and the Sporting News also covered the story.