Gibbs facing penalties for dyno 'cheat'

Following Saturday's Nationwide race at Michigan which was won by Carl Edwards in a Ford, NASCAR tested a number of cars on their chassis dyno at the track to get a new reading on power following last month's regulation change which mandated all Toyotas to run a smaller restrictor to cut an estimated 15 to 20 horsepower from their engines.

Officials found that the throttle pedal on the two Joe Gibbs Racing cars that finished third and seventh, driven by Tony Stewart and Joey Logano, had been manipulated before the test to prevent them from being wide-open, thus giving a lower power reading on the dyno.

"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," Pemberton said.

Team owner Joe Gibbs took full responsibility for the incident, which could compromise what has thus far been an amazing campaign in NASCAR's second-tier series, where they have won fourteen out of twenty-five races.

"We will take full responsibility and accept any penalties NASCAR levies against us," Joe Gibbs said. "We will also investigate internally how this incident took place and who was involved and make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure that this kind of situation never happens again.

"The expectations we set for everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing begins with me, and I personally apologize to NASCAR, our partners and our fans for the negative light this situation has cast upon all of us."

The team's president JD Gibbs faced the media on Sunday at Michigan and said they would get to the bottom of the issue which he claims probably came out of frustration from team personnel after NASCAR decided to cut their power last month.

"To me, the frustrating part is why?", Gibbs said. "I know they're probably frustrated from the standpoint that, hey, we have less horsepower than ever before and we want to make it look like we're handicapped more than ever before. I understand that, but that's not an excuse."

NASCAR officials removed the shims that they found on the two JGR cars' pedal stops, and duly performed the tests correctly.

Although Kyle Busch won the first race after they were forced to change their restrictors at O'Reilly Raceway Park, he did it at a track where power is not as key to performance as it is at Michigan.

Following Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Michigan, NASCAR was set to test a number of Sprint Cup cars including Kyle Busch's second-placed JGR Toyota.

NASCAR are expected to announce penalties for the Gibbs team this Tuesday.