Toyota and the 55 already cheating.

[JohnMickish]

#55 manifold confiscated: during pre-qualifying inspection, the intake manifold of the #55 NAPA Toyota of Michael Waltrip was confiscated by NASCAR, it didn't meet specifications and the team had to install another one.(SPEED's NASCAR Live), been told there was a substance on the inside of the manifold and it was taken away in a black bag, will be taken to NASCAR R&D center in Concord, NC to be examined, Waltrip's team was allowed to put another manifold on and go thru tech inspection (2-11-2007)

[NAPAFISH]

Pemberton said the situation with the No. 55 problem was not specific to any individual manufacturer.

Nothing to do w/ Toyota.

Actually they impounded the whole car.

[Capt.Blaine]

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Actually they impounded the whole car

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I don’t think that happened, I watched qualifying and Waltrip said they just took the intake manifold that was in question and let him put a different one on.

My question is how in the heck can oil get in the intake manifold? This is what Waltrip says it was but he didnt know if that was even possible.

[lawdog]

Apparently the 17 and 9 were caught cheating today too. SPEED says that NASCAR told them they viewed the violations as very similar to the violation found with the 48 car at qualifying last year. All your Ford guys who whine so bad about Knaus have anything to say about Blue Oval poster boy Kenseth getting caught?

[PierBridge]

They ended up taking the whole car after the qualifying run.

Mikey's not to worried.

"We didn't do anything. They just have to try to figure out what happened," Waltrip said. "I'm talking in circles, because I don't know what happened."

Good read.

CHEATERS

[Uncle Bill]

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Apparently the 17 and 9 were caught cheating today too. SPEED says that NASCAR told them they viewed the violations as very similar to the violation found with the 48 car at qualifying last year. All your Ford guys who whine so bad about Knaus have anything to say about Blue Oval poster boy Kenseth getting caught?

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We are talking about a couple of tiny holes in the wheel well.

Nothing compared to the half dozen attemped cheats by knaus in 2006. (Leading to his suspension)

Whats more, at this point, they are just allegations.

Please refrain from spewing your hatred until The Champ has had time to respond.

Go #17

[PierBridge]

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Apparently the 17 and 9 were caught cheating today too. SPEED says that NASCAR told them they viewed the violations as very similar to the violation found with the 48 car at qualifying last year. All your Ford guys who whine so bad about Knaus have anything to say about Blue Oval poster boy Kenseth getting caught?

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We are talking about a couple of tiny holes in the wheel well.

Nothing compared to the half dozen attemped cheats by knaus in 2006. (Leading to his suspension)

Whats more, at this point, they are just allegations.

Please refrain from spewing your hatred until The Champ has had time to respond.

Go #17

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eX cHamp..... Jimmy Jonhson is the CHAMP!...

[Sifty]

Come on guy's let stop attacking each other and go back to having some fun.

Sifty

[harvey lee]

I agree with Sifty. Sometimes we all get going on our thoughts and we get a little to into it and forget about others myself included. I know I like Jr and pick on Jeff Gordon and we all have fun but some members may also take what I or we have posted as a insult to them.

This forum is so much fun and sometimes many of us forget about the others here, again myself included.

Now, lets go have some more fun and Thanks to Sifty for reminding us all to just have fun.

[PierBridge]

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Come on guy's let stop attacking each other and go back to having some fun.

Sifty

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I was having fun and that was hardly an attack.

[JohnMickish]

This is getting serious. Here is the whole story from Jaski.

#55 manifold confiscated; car impounded UPDATE 3 Sterno?: during pre-qualifying inspection, the intake manifold of the #55 NAPA Toyota of Michael Waltrip was confiscated by NASCAR, it didn't meet specifications and the team had to install another one.(SPEED's NASCAR Live), been told there was a substance on the inside of the manifold and it was taken away in a black bag, will be taken to NASCAR R&D center in Concord, NC to be examined, Waltrip's team was allowed to change engines, go thru tech inspection and make a qualifying attempt, Waltrip qualified 25th.(2-11-2007)

UPDATE: the #55 Toyota was impounded by NASCAR and Hunter said the car would be inspected 'with a fine tooth comb'.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(2-11-2007)

UPDATE 2: NASCAR impounded the #55 NAPA Toyota of driver/owner Michael Waltrip after qualifying. NASCAR officials confiscated the intake manifold off Waltrip's Camry during a prequalifying inspection. NASCAR officials don't know if Waltrip's car is illegal. Waltrip's fate is up in the air. Hunter said NASCAR officials decided to impound the car before qualifying, but allowed Waltrip to make a qualifying run after placing a new manifold on the car. Now NASCAR officials will inspect the entire car to determine if any violations exist. "Our inspectors will go over that car a with a fine-tooth comb," Hunter said. "I don't know how long we will keep it. As of right now, we do not know that the manifold is illegal, but we want to know." Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's director of competition, said officials sent the manifold to the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., for testing Monday. "Our inspector caught a substance inside that we didn't really know what it was," Pemberton said about the manifold. Pemberton wouldn't give specifics about the problem, but Waltrip said inspectors found oil inside the manifold. "And it's not supposed to be there," Waltrip said. "So they took it to see why the oil was there. I don't really understand what is going on, and people here a lot smarter than me don't understand it either, but we'll figure it out. I'm sure it'll be fine." Hunter wasn't buying Waltrip's explanation. "Our inspection team was not comfortable that it was oil," Hunter said. Pemberton said the situation with the #55 problem was not specific to any individual manufacturer. (ESPN.com)(2-12-2007)

UPDATE 3: Waltrip's Toyota was impounded, with Hunter raising the possibility Waltrip will not be allowed to run that particular car in the 150s or the 500. "We'll go over that car with a fine-tooth comb ... and I don't know how long we'll keep it," Hunter said. Sterno? That's the horsepower trick that rivals suspect tripped up Waltrip when he was busted by NASCAR in the pre-qualifying inspection line for having some unknown "substance" in his intake manifold. NASCAR's Robin Pemberton, the vice president for competition, said that the manifold was being sent back the Concord R&D center for analysis. Presumably the substance could have been some type of oxidant, to provide a bit of horsepower for a short period of time. For years, stock-car teams have at times used such illegal chemical additives at Daytona and Talladega, where NASCAR severely restricts air to the engine, to limit speeds. Ty Norris, the general manager of Waltrip's team, insisted that it was not Sterno: "No, no, no, no. They found some oil in the manifold and said it shouldn't be there," Norris said. "They thought something was amiss. So we changed manifolds, and had the same issue. We showed NASCAR we thought it was blow-by engine oil.(Winston Salem Journal)(2-12-2007)

UPDATE 4: Waltrip told Marty Smith on ESPN's NASCAR Now that he will get the car back to practice on Wednesday and run the Gatorade Duel's 150. Smith also said that NASCAR told him penalties would not be announced until late Tuesday afternoon at the earliest or as late as Wednesday.(2-12-2007)

[Sifty]

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Come on guy's let stop attacking each other and go back to having some fun.

Sifty

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I was having fun and that was hardly an attack.

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Pierbridge, No shot intended just trying to get back to the whole idea of this being fun.

Sifty

[JohnMickish]

I'm not surprized that someone got caught cheating this soon, but who got caught. Obviously the 55 has to make the show but being with Toyota in their first year I would think the risk of bad publicity from getting caught would keep them from doing it.

Not that the 17 and 9 are innocent here. Sounds like NA$CAR is pretty mad at these boys too.

[harvey lee]

I have a hard time believing that the Waltrip racing team would want to push the rules to far at the get go. I realize that they need to do well but, if they were to get caught cheating then the sponsors and fans may have a hard time with that.

[OUTDOORNUT]

You mean compared to NOT being in the race!?

I think MWR is going to do everything possible to get his cars into the race......he is what all the hype has been about. Do you think NAPA is really starting to see what a mistake it may have been to go with Mikey?!

[harvey lee]

It will be interesting to see what substance was in the intake manifold. Also when NASCAR give the 55 back for the race. Sounds like the 17 & 9 will be starting thier 125's in the back of the pack.

[Jeremy airjer W]

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It will be interesting to see what substance was in the intake manifold. Also when NASCAR give the 55 back for the race. Sounds like the 17 & 9 will be starting thier 125's in the back of the pack.

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If dales run in the shootout is any indication of what will happen to the other toys, starting where you'll finish doesn't sound to bad to me.

[harvey lee]

I dont believe that with the plate tracks the starting position really matters that much. The only bad part to starting way back is if there is a caution in the front or middle of the track and you get collected up in the mess. Seems the further back you are, the more likely it is that you will be one on the hook.

[Jeremy airjer W]

on the other hand they would be have to be incredibally unintelligent (sorry, the other words get sensored?) to get collected in a big one if there running that far behind. Seriously it look like he didn't even have enough to stay with the back of the pack!!

[LMITOUT]

The hammer is coming down hard on the Toilet-odors and there is something definitely rotten in Denmark! Waltrip's crew chief was booted from the track along with MWR's director of competition. Penalties to be announced shortly and they don't sound good. Rumored to be jet fuel in the manifold.....but just a rumor.

[PierBridge]

Crew chief and Vice President of competition suspended indefinatly.

Crew chief fined $100,000, Waltrip loses 100 drive points and owner Buffy Waltrip lose's 100 owner points.

Toyota must be livid!

[PerchPounder]

VP of competition says it wasnt jet fuel and it was something that they have never seen before. which could not have been accidently introduced into the fuel system. reportedly was something between the consistency of vaseline and silicon. i have no idea what it would have been but to me i think that the penalties need to be stiffer in order to make them hurt. what does taking points do to someone who has no chance of winnning anything anyways?

[JohnMickish]

Sounds like even Mikey might recieve the boot. Here is update 6

UPDATE 6: Sirius NASCAR Radio, Ch 128 had PRN's Mark Garrow on the Driver's Seat show this morning and reported that the team had taken a #44 Toyota is reskinning the car and putting the #32 on the car, soucres say the #55 team and Waltrip may be ejected. Waltrip bought the #32 owners points [going with the #00 team] and Cal Wells is listed as the #00 owner. AND MORE: Garrow is reporting that crew chief David Hyder is not at the track and SPEED's NASCAR Live reported that NASCAR fired up the engine and the substance reappeared, now NASCAR has put up a 50-foot perimeter to keep anyone out of the area and has pulled the engine out of the car and the car will not be #32, but is will keep the #55 and it is a Reutimann backup. Waltrip has declined interviews, probably will not be allowed to practice in the first practice. The team is still preparing the car. Also word around the garage is Waltrip could be suspended a few races and crew chief Hyder suspended as long as the full season.(2-14-2007)

[LMITOUT]

That was from earlier today.....he's racing in the race tomorrow.

One could say that 100 pts equates to being suspended a race or two anyway as Waltrip usually only gets 50pts a race if he finishes like he typically does.

[JohnMickish]

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One could say that 100 pts equates to being suspended a race or two anyway as Waltrip usually only gets 50pts a race if he finishes like he typically does.

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Ouch. True but ouch.