If someone were to try and take anyone out at Talladega or Daytona then that driver is an idiot. Those are the 2 tracks where you get your payback not by taking someone out, but by hanging them out of the draft.

Well part of it is if they allow a 2-gram allowance in this case why not a 2 or 4-gram allowance next time? Sure if they do it to all 8 that is about an ounce, but let's apply that .0048% discrepancy to the whole motor, or heck even the whole car. Then you start talking "big" numbers. Or round it up to a .005% discrepancy for an "easier" measurement. That starts a whole slippery slope that understandably NASCAR doesn't want to start climbing. While I think the penalty is harsh, and will probably be reduced upon appeal, it is probably about right for the direction NASCAR is going, especially if NASCAR is willing to rack up the penalties on the next person who has a non-standard motor.

Like I said in an earlier post TRD has admitted the error is their fault and I have a feeling they will pay all the financial restitution to NASCAR.

They have since the beginning of last season. Supposedly it was to "help solve" their engine issues since JGR blew more engines than the rest of the Toyoda teams combined, but I would also argue they won more races as well so really where was the issue.

I personally thought the switch was on Toyoda orders because JGR was the top team and winning so many races, compared to the other Toyodas. And part of those orders might be the teams can't teardown the engines given to them by TRD, meaning Gibbs and the others don't know the weights of the parts. TRD has already recalled 3 engines from Michael Waltrip Racing fearing a similar weight discrepancy.

And for those asking "Why would TRD do that?" I would say so that a team with the resources like JGR don't take all the secrets they learn from the TRD motors and apply them to their own in-house motor program.

Obviously they do, but good luck finding it in the rulebook, or actually finding a rulebook. All the major sports have their rulebooks available to the public (gasp! Transparency!) but NASCAR's is apparently super secret.

Not quite sure what you mean by the last part of your comment, but I agree that it would be hard to tell if it would be a comparative advantage. In fact I would think it might be a disadvantage because of the possibility of the part either failing, or throwing the timing of the engine off. But then again I'm not an engineer and not really a gearhead so I could be wrong.

Toyoda has already issued a statement the whole thing is their fault not Gibbs. So to me that means the Toyoda teams are getting crate engines from TRD and can't do much to them beyond connect them up in the car. It will be interesting to see where the appeal process goes from here, since it looks like Toyoda is more than willing to take the hit, and probably will pay all financial restitution. The appeal is likely dead at the panel level, but there is still the final appeal to the former GM executive, who is already likely to hear the Ford appeal with Penseke. Chevy got off on their last penalty with JJ last year, let's see what happens with the other two car makes.

Also to put this in perspective, the offending part was about 2.5 grams underweight, or about the same weight as 2 cotton balls.

Makes you wonder how those cars made it through several inspections just fine, only to have the cars flagged by NASCAR 2 hours before the race began. And let's not forget the 48 and 24 were setup in garage stalls beside the 2 and 22 respectively. Methinks Chad K. saw something too similar to his own "innovation" under the 2 and informed NASCAR of the "questionable" part.

With as crazy as the Trucks schedule is, I'm thinking NASCAR is hoping fans forget what happened before the next race in three weeks! Of course the media will blow the whole thing out of proportion, probably by having interviews with Wallace and Hornaday, then ask if Wallace will take his payback whenever he and Hornaday are within 20 car-lengths of one another, and ultimately sound disappointed when nothing happens.

While I get Petty's intent, maybe he should practice what he preaches and remove himself from the HoF since he is still an active owner. Yes he is in as a driver, but as an owner he is still a part of the sport, and thus changing the statistics every week (assuming that comment was about Hendrick's and Childress's driver and not NASCAR themselves).

No official word yet, but I'm thinking he got his bell rung. Report is he was transported by air because of traffic issues. After Jr's Dega wreck last year, I have a feeling NASCAR is taking no chances with this one.

Jimmie Johnson, and the 48 team are the New York Yankies of NASCAR. People whine, complain, and boo (I fully admit I am one of those people) when he wins, and cheer when he wrecks. While he had a dominate run I think the other drivers are catching up technologically, and are starting to race him differently, so that will help spread the wins and good runs out amongst different drivers.

Also the media hype doesn't help either. When JJ is practically declared champ by them at Daytona in February every year the "story" becomes incredible stale by week 3. I feeling is that no one in the media, "reporters", real reporters, and commentators should air their favorites on the air. Yet For the first third of the season they blatantly have a commentator cheering on specific drivers, and manufacturers, and not being an unbias voice. Call me a conspiracy nut, but I also have a feeling NASCAR also has their favorite list that they force TV to report on no matter where they are running, and that NASCAR controls the media and what they report to an extent.

Nope. In fact it would be a story NASCAR would actively cover-up/deny.

The First Amendment, only protects you from the Government from restricting your speech. Individuals, groups, and corporations are not covered by this restriction, unless you go through the lengthy and expensive lawsuit route.

Well he did work for WWE for a while, maybe NASCAR needs new writers to come up with storylines for the races. You know like who wins, who fights who on pit lane, which driver will hookup with Danica next, etc.

Yes "the fans" voted things that way (and all night), cause you know NASCAR wouldn't have wanted the longer run for more drama.

Hendrick owns at least 1 Honda dealership (that's what got him in trouble with the Feds), and Penske owns Chevy dealerships among others. Most of the NASCAR owners who have car dealerships usually have a bunch of them, and those dealerships are diversified across the manufacturers.

Well I'm glad there's nothing important going on like a new car being tested and whatnot that we are missing out on from T&R.

If he rattles off 2-3 wins before May, I would say he could run the Indy 500 and still make the Chase.

Do you think Tony would do it and skip the World 600 for the Indy 500 if he were safely in the Chase hunt either by leading the points, or having a bunch of wins?

Tony probably needs more than 5 months to get into shape for the double. Let's wait and see if Roger makes the offer again next year and a leaner Tony accepts.

I don't see any new stories until after Daytona....in July!