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NASCAR has been busy since Daytona, levying penalties and fines upon several teams. Robby Gordon and his team did not go unscathed, receiving 100 point owner’s and driver’s points penalties, a hefty fine, and a suspension of his crew chief, Gene Nead. The National Stock Car Racing Commission reversed NASCAR’s decision of taking Gordon’s points away, but increased crew chief Gene Nead’s fine.

The replacing of the points moves the #7 Jim Beam Dodge into the top-35 in owner’s points, in 21st place. One other team is not nearly as happy.

The #99 Office Depot Ford, the winning car at Las Vegas, was found to have a loose top on its oil reservoir, prompting NASCAR to issue Edwards and the team a 100 point penalty, a fine, and a six-week suspension of crew chief Bob Osborne. Carl Edwards and the team were quick to claim that the bolt on the oil tank came loose during the race, causing the top to come off. Edwards also said that having the oil cap come loose at a track like Vegas does not create a very large advantage.

So far, Roush-Fenway has not decided on whether they would appeal the decision. However…

People on both sides of the Edwards story vocal

At a Friday press conference, Jack Roush gave a lengthy oration claiming his team’s innocence. Roush claims that the bolt on the reservoir vibrated loose during the race and also that his team never intentionally tried to gain an advantage with it. Roush said that he may not waste his time and resources going through the appeals process, because the NSCRC rarely sides with him. He did say that he is not beyond pulling out polygraph tests and proving to the commission and the racing world that his team did not try and cheat.

Contrary to Edwards’ statement, Roush does admit that having the oil cap come off does create an aerodynamic advantage.

Roush-Fenway driver Greg Biffle corroborated his owner’s claims about racing vibrations knocking parts loose on cars, saying that his leg asleep during the Vegas test in the new car. He also said that Matt Kenseth’s power steering reservoir cap came loose, but that officials did not notice it.

Other drivers and figures in the sport are lining up against Roush’s claims. Lee White of Toyota Racing says that his teams have been testing their cars in wind tunnels with out the reservoir covers, to see how that impacts speed. He also said that he does not buy the cover accidentally coming off.

Ryan Newman and Jeff Burton also felt skeptical of Roush’s claims, saying that they have had vibrations in their cars, but no parts have come loose.

Elliott Sadler said that he thinks the penalties should be harsher. He bases his claim on the fact that teams spend hundreds of man hours trying to gain the least bit of any advantage on downforce. By removing the oil talk lid, he says, that is an illegal, instant way to gain that downforce. He thinks that NASCAR should further discourage teams from instances like this, by taking away wins.

“At first, they [NASCAR] gave out fines and that didn’t work. Now they are docking points,” said Sadler, addressing the media.

“The next step is taking a win away from a team that cheats.”

Newman looks at AMS history

One year ago, Ryan Newman claimed a record-tying seventh Sprint Cup pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway, tying Buddy Baker for the most all-time. When asked about his thoughts on possibly accomplishing this feat, Newman was conflicted.

“Buddy Baker is a close friend of mine, so breaking his record would be bittersweet,” said the driver of the #12 Dodge. “I tried hard to get the pole in the fall race, but I overdrove the car and ended up 9th.”

If the weather permits, the favorable track conditions could play well into the #12 team’s hands.

Zaxby’s not too chicken to sponsor Cup ride

Zaxby’s Restaurants has announced a sponsorship program with the #28 Yates Racing team and driver Travis Kvapil. The #28 Ford will carry Zaxby’s colors for this weekend’s AMS race. The company also announced that they will sponsor Kvapil in nine other races this season.

Both Yates cars are with out full sponsorship so far this season. The #38 car has sponsorship from Freecreditreport.com for the next several races only and the #28 car does not have a primary sponsor for the non-Zaxby’s races.

This week, Roush-Fenway and Zaxby’s also announced the new driver lineup for the #09 Ford F-150 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team. Travis Kvapil will run the truck for ten more races this season, Bobby East will run seven races, and Jon Wes Townley will run another six races. Tyrone’s Joey Clanton was the team’s original driver, but got fired after wrecking both his and his teammate Colin Braun’s trucks twice at Daytona.

No speed limits at the State Capital on Thursday

Thursday was a fun day for race fans and political junkies alike. Several racing figures gathered in Downtown Atlanta to commemorate NASCAR and the coming race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. AMS President Ed Clark introduced the driver lineup of Georgia’s David Ragan and Andy Lally, David Stremme, Rusty Wallace, Steve Wallace, and other racing figures.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue also lauded the accomplishments of Atlanta Motor Speedway and of the Georgia drivers in attendance. Perdue himself was commemorated for his extensive enthusiasm for racing and for his prowess for piloting stock cars in the Richard Petty Driving Experience. Fans at the Capital received 8”x11” driver postcards featuring Perdue in his own driving suit, that read “Georgia’s #1 Driver”.

To cap the event off, Captain Herb Emory in his Mayberry Patrol car chased the Governor in a Petty Experience racecar around the perimeter of the Capital, blaring his siren and yelling, “Georgia’s number one scoundrel!”

David Stremme and Steve Wallace also got in their Rusty Wallace Racing Chevys and did burnouts.

Other sponsorship news

Joe Gibbs Racing President J.D. Gibbs announced that Home Depot is not going to be the #20’s primary sponsor for every single race. This means that there is a spot for several races for another company to sponsor the Toyota. Some believe that Subway may be the second primary sponsor for the team.

An official at Chip Ganassi Racing said this week that they are ready to announce a sponsorship deal for Dario Franchitti and the #40 at Bristol next week. People at Gillette-Evernham Motorsports say that there is also a deal on the table to sponsor Patrick Carpentier for the rest of the season as well.

There is also a rumor that T-Mobile is interested in buying the struggling Sprint-Nextel company. There will be more on that in future issues of this article.