“If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying …” and of course everyone also knows that “It ain’t cheating unless you get caught.”
Well guess what? Michael Waltrip Racing not only blatantly cheated, attempting to manipulate the outcome of the final Chase standings, but they were caught. Punishments ensued, but as Ed Hinton pointed out, Jeff Gordon was still hosed in the process.
“Gordon also lost enormously to the spin, lost a Chase berth via the point standings, to Joey Logano, by a single point. Now questions have arisen whether Logano’s Penske team might have gotten help in track position from another Ford team, Front Row, and David Gilliland, at Gordon’s expense. NASCAR continues to investigate.”
While I do agree with Mr. Hinton, I will also point out that Jeff Gordon put himself in this position by not being able to win a race leading up to the Chase.
Ryan Newman makes it on point penalties applied to Martin Truex, but what about Jeff Gordon? He was in a position to make the Chase (by 2 points if I am not mistaken) at the time Bowyer decided to “scratch his itch.”
When asked about his team allegedly talking in code during the race, Bowyer said that he had poison oak all over his arm from cutting down a tree last week. His crew chief had inquired about his arm right before the spin, at one point saying, “I bet it’s hot in there. Itch it.”
…
NASCAR could prove only one action — radio communication between Norris and Vickers in which a confused Vickers was told to pit as the field went green with three laps to go. The request was made in an effort to give Joey Logano position on the track to pass Jeff Gordon in the standings and knock Gordon out of the Chase so that Truex could gain the wild card.
But it is all good; at least we know that Michael Waltrip Racing is not immoral:
“We’re not immoral, we’re not irresponsible. Decisions were made just based on circumstances. As we look back, we would’ve been smarter and done things differently.”
I guess smarter means not getting caught. Oh well, I’m done with NASCAR for this year.
