NASCAR announced Wednesday the suspension of seven JGR crew members indefinitely for attempting to manipulate a horsepower test after a Nationwide Series race last weekend at Michigan. The penalties are some of the harshest ever announced by NASCAR.
Crew chiefs Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers were suspended and fined $50,000 each. And the following crew members were all suspended indefinitely: 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.

But the crews were not the only people affected. Driver points and owner points were also taken away. Drivers Tony Stewart and Joey Logano were each docked 150 driver points. Joe Gibbs Racing was stripped of 150 owner points for each car. And the teams were placed on probation for the rest of the season.

Joe Gibbs Statements
“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 in a statement. “What we have determined is that these individuals involved used extremely poor judgment.”

“A poor decision was made by some key members of our organization,” Gibbs said. “And 100 percent of the blame rests with us.”

The infraction was discovered after Tony Stewart finished third in Saturday’s race at Michigan International Speedway in the No. 20 car and Logano was seventh in the No. 18 car. Post race inspectors found magnets on the gas pedals on both cars when they were sent to the chassis dyno for examination. The magnets were apparently placed there to keep the pedal from being fully pressed to the floor.

The No. 20 car’s lead in the owners standing was cut to 168 over the No. 2 car owned by Richard Childress Racing.
Kyle Busch Wins Wed Bristol Truck Race
Kyle Busch won again! Wednesday night Kyle Busch won the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway for his third Craftsman Truck Series win of the season and his 17th overall in 2008 in NASCAR’s top three series. Busch led 145 laps and now has won in all three series.

Johnny Benson, who was trying to become the first driver to win four consecutive truck races, finished fourth behind polesitter Scott Speed. Rick Crawford was fifth.

T.J. Bell, Mike Skinner, Dennis Setzer, David Stremme and Ted Musgrave rounded out the top 10.

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