Hamlin disputes Bowyer's defence

Denny Hamlin has hit out at Clint Bowyer and his team, slamming the Richard Childress driver's suggestions for why his Loudon winning car failed a NASCAR technical inspection.

While speaking to the media on Friday morning, Bowyer not only defended his team's case, but also hinted at issues with both Jimmie Johnson's and Hamlin's cars during the post-race inspection at Loudon, saying the Joe Gibbs driver's #11 Toyota had to be checked twice for height measurements before being given the okay by officials.

Hamlin, who finished second behind Bowyer in the event, said it was a "pretty standard" practice to allow a second check of the car's height after finishing the race and claimed his car was not found to be outside NASCAR's specifications, unlike Bowyer's winning Chevrolet.

"Our cars did have to go through twice and I'm just not sure whether it was [to inspect] the front or the back so I can't be 100 per cent correct," said Hamlin.

"Those cars get extremely, extremely hot and when they do they either settle down or they settle high. That's what that grace period is for and they let you go back through again to make sure because that is something that is an issue when the cars get hot.

"Our car came back and it was correct, but it wasn't built incorrect and that's one thing that their car was: built incorrectly."

Hamlin called Bowyer's argument that the magnitude of the rules violation on his car was not enhancing performance a "crock" and believes that his rival was simply caught after being warned by officials at Richmond, were Bowyer's car came too close to the tolerances set by the rules.

"You can talk about how small the thing was off and you can really try to say that 60 thousandths didn't help [Bowyer] perform any better - that is a crock," said Hamlin. "Let me tell you something, that helps a lot. I know when we gain five points of downforce our car runs a tonne better.

"NASCAR has been very, very lenient I feel like on this car and they've given those guys chances. It's not Richmond.

"I think that they should just be happy that they're in the Chase at this point. They were warned and they were warned before Richmond. Everyone in the garage knows that. They're the ones who wanted to press the issue and get all they could to make sure they got in the Chase.

"They got in it and then they were busted. They kept going with it."

The Chase leader said last Sunday at Richmond his team had "the fastest legal car" at Loudon but supported NASCAR's consistency on not taking the win away from Bowyer. However he expects all the unfolding controversy to have an impact not only on the #33 team but also on Bowyer's Richard Childress Racing team-mates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, both also title contenders in the play-off this year.

"The more they reel the other teams in, the better off our team's going to be," said Hamlin. "It's going to affect the #29 [Harvick], the #31 [Burton] and the #33 [Bowyer]. I think the only difference is the #33 won the race so he went to the tech centre.

"It's just one of those things where I think our team is very strong and we do it, I feel like, the right way. Sometimes that makes to where our performance is behind at times, but you know what, we're going to be 'green' [legal] all the time."

Hamlin also disputed RCR's claim about the tow truck causing damage to Bowyer's car and causing it to fail NASCAR's inspection this week. He said that a few weeks ago at Atlanta after his car suffered an engine failure it was towed back to the pits and although the trunk was "destroyed" according to Hamlin, the car was still within tolerances on inspection.

He says that even if Bowyer's car was outside the box by 60 thousandths of an inch, NASCAR had to draw the line at some point.

"There has to be a point where it's black and white. It's no longer grey," said Hamlin. "If [NASCAR] let them get away with this 60 thousandths of an inch then when do you stop, when do you break it and say, 'now we have to penalise'? There has to be a point in which they say, 'this is it, this is the tolerance, if you go past it, you're in trouble.'

"If they let him go, then they're just going to open up the whole field to let them do whatever they want.

"That's why some teams choose to get closer to that line than others - because there are things that happen out on the race track. There are variables that happen during the race that could make you be wrong, but you're taking that risk.

"If you're going to go out on the race track and take the risk of 'I can't afford to get one bump or my car's going to be illegal', that's a risk that ain't worth taking. That's why we don't do it with our organisation."

Following his words in front of the media, Hamlin posted on his Twitter page that he has no hard feelings against Bowyer despite his comments.

"FYI I have nothing against Bowyer. I like him as a driver and person. He didn't build the cars so I feel bad for him," Hamlin wrote.

Pellegrini salutes RonaldoChildress disputes NASCAR’s ruling

Childress disputes NASCAR's ruling

Richard Childress says his team will appeal against NASCAR's ruling on the legality of Clint Bowyer's car, claiming it was built to the rules specification.

Bowyer and his team were heavily penalised with points deductions, suspensions and a fine after officials deemed that their winning car from Loudon was not within the tolerances set by the NASCAR rulebook regarding the position of the bodywork in reference to the chassis on the rear end.

The Richard Childress driver took victory in the Chase opener after leading the most laps, but he gambled on fuel strategy in the closing stages and eventually saved enough fuel to make it to the end, while rivals Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton failed to do so despite running on the same sequence.

Bowyer actually ran out of fuel following a celebratory burnout and had to be towed to Victory Lane by a service truck that pushed the #33 Chevrolet from the rear bumper. According to Childress, this and the car being hit by others on the cool down lap, may be the reason for it ending up failing a detailed inspection undertaken by NASCAR this week at its Research and Development facility.

Childress says his team will go the final instances if needed in order to prove that it did not build the car outside NASCAR's box, following a warning received the previous week regarding the machine Bowyer raced at Richmond. This Chevy was found to be close to being outside the mandated tolerances on the same area where the Loudon car was ruled illegal.

"RCR has a long-standing reputation of integrity on and off the race track," said Childress in a statement. "We pride ourselves on working within the rules established by the sanctioning body.

"NASCAR informed us after the Richmond race that we were very close to their maximum tolerances. They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Centre after that race.

"It doesn't make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn't within NASCAR's tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required by NASCAR.

"We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance by sixty thousandths of an inch, less than 1/16 of an inch, happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into winner's circle.

"The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That's the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech centre. We will appeal NASCAR's ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be."

Childress' appeal would mean six-race suspensions handed to Bowyer's crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney could be deferred for now as well as a $150.000 fine issued to Wilson. However NASCAR has clarified that the points penalty remains in place.

Hamlin maintains Chase leadGuardiola fined for ref rant

Hamlin maintains Chase lead

Denny Hamlin remained in the lead of the Sprint Cup series playoff following a strong second-place finish on Sunday's Chase opener at Loudon.

The 29-year-old, who led the standings for the first time in his career heading into the start of the title battle this weekend, drove a great race of recovery after being turned around more than halfway through the race by title contender Carl Edwards.

The Roush Fenway racer made contact with Hamlin's Toyota, sending him into a spin on lap 213 of 300, but the Joe Gibbs racer managed to avoid hitting the wall, while being lucky of not getting collected by other cars, as he was running in the top-five at the time.

"I was really glad we just didn't get plowed by the entire field," said Hamlin. "Obviously we spun in front the entire field at that point. First thing I asked is how many cars is on the lead lap because I wanted to see how bad our day was going to be

"When we restarted 22nd, I immediately set a goal and said, let's finish top 15 and a few things happen and it was like, crap, let's get a top eight and then top 6, holy cow, we can win this thing. It was one of those days, our car, we just made a heck of a charge at the end."

Hamlin was able to recover from the incident and he quickly made progress while running on a safer fuel strategy than some ahead of him. As the lap-count faded he started to put the pressure on, closing on the leaders who were trying to save enough to make it to the end.

With ten laps remaining he was able to get up to third place, as he continued to shorten the gap to leaders Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer. In the end, the tank of the Stewart-Haas Chevy of his former Gibbs' teammate ran empty, allowing Bowyer to take the win ahead of Hamlin's #11 Toyota.

"The 33 [Bowyer] had a really good car today, the 1 [McMurray], the 14 [Stewart]," said Bowyer. "Those three cars I felt like were the best cars all day. We never really got to show where our car was at. As soon as we got to the Top 3, is when we got spun.

"We clawed and scratched our way to the front all day to get in position with 80 to go to go for a win. Luckily, it's a double-edged sword, it made us come in [the pits], we had to get fuel and it gave us the fuel for the end. Typically, our Toyota gets really good gas mileage, so I knew we were going to be fine on fuel right there at the end.

"Top 6 was where I wanted to leave this day, and so first mission accomplished."

Following Sunday's race Hamlin edges Sunday's winner Bowyer by 35 points in the Chase standing.

Hamlin surprised by early successHammers lead Barrera chase

Patrick has 'humbling' runs at Dover

Danica Patrick continued her steep learning curve in NASCAR taking a top 10 finish in the Pro Series East race and 35th in the Nationwide Series event at Dover this weekend.

The IndyCar star competed on Friday afternoon in the Pro race, starting 13th, leading the race for a few laps and finishing sixth after contact when she restarted from the front of the field dropped her down the order.

Patrick took the 155-lap race as a warm up for Saturday's Nationwide event, as both series use similar cars, although the Pro is a level down the NASCAR ranks.

She was happy following her first race of the weekend, although conditions inside the car were not ideal as she ran without the proper ventilation that she's used to in her Nationwide car.

"I know I learned a lot for [the Nationwide] race and that was the point," Patrick said after Friday's event. "I learned a lot, especially about restarts. I learned about closing rates.

"I learned how to set people up here and I learned about the timing of everything. I didn't have a back blower and the helmet blower seemed to be blowing hot air. I was pretty star-star-star hot."

In the Nationwide event Patrick didn't fare as well, struggling with a poor qualifying despite running well in practice. From 42nd on the grid she was unable to make much progress while fighting handling issues, dropping a lap down on the leaders as soon as lap 17.

On lap 70 of 200, and while running two laps down already, the right front tyre on her Chevrolet gave up and Patrick hit the wall hard, forcing her to drive to the garage for lengthy repairs. Though she came back on track nearly 100 laps later to finish 35th in her seventh Nationwide race.

Patrick admitted that she still has to learn more lessons on how to set up her car for a race before being able to move up to the next level. She says the fact that her apprenticeship is taking place in the public eye doesn't make things any easier.

"I don't know what I need out of the car to be good in the race," said Patrick. "I know what I need for one lap to feel good, but that doesn't mean it's going to be good for 70 or 80 laps. So, even on that last run out there which was 30 or so laps, we freed [the car] up and went out there and started feeling a little loose, and it kind of settled in and I was pushing by the end.

"How loose does it have to be when you start to have a good end? I don't know if that contributed to the right front blowing out in the first run or not, but it got to the point that there was so much push, it was shattering. I know now from experience that when you have a vibration and when the car doesn't want to turn it's probably losing pressure and you should back it on down.

"Lessons learned, and they're not fun lessons because everybody is watching so it makes it even harder but we'll get this car to the front by the end of the year. We'll figure it out."

Even before her weekend started, Patrick had already admitted how humbling her NASCAR transition has been as she has had to learn to cope with bellow-par results while she figures out the nuances of stock car racing.

"Mostly it's just been emotional because I've had to deal with not having as good results as I would have liked," said Patrick. "IndyCar has been a bit of a tough season. I've had probably some of my best races I've ever had, but I've also had some mediocre ones.

"NASCAR has been a humbling experience itself. For me, it's been more emotional than anything. I enjoy being busy, I like it. I'm lucky to be busy. Not every driver gets to be busy, and it's all for good reason. It's part of what I signed up for and I'm enjoying it."

Patrick will return to the Nationwide Series next month at Fontana, which will be the first venue she has competed at for a second time this year.

NASCAR penalises Bowyer and RCR

Clint Bowyer's title chances have taken a major blow after NASCAR penalised him for irregularities found on his winning car from Sunday's race at Loudon.

The Richard Childress driver has been docked 150 points in the standings, after his #33 Chevrolet failed to pass a detailed inspection at NASCAR's Research and Development facility in Concord, North Carolina, where the car was taken following the initial post-race inspection at the track.

Officials found discrepancies in the "car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis", citing that these "did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications." The NASCAR rulebook states how the bodywork must be placed in reference to the chassis and in the rear of Bowyer's car measurements were found not to comply.

Last week after the final race of the regular season at Richmond, Bowyer's team had already been warned about issues that arose during inspection of the car he ran at the event where he secured his place in the championship play-off. Officials found the Richmond car, which was selected randomly for inspection at the track, was too close to the mandated tolerances.

"Details regarding the #33 car surround the car from a post-race inspection after the Richmond race," said NASCAR's vice president of competition Robin Pemberton.

"We reinforced the fact that they had come exceedingly close to the measurements that we allow for post-race [inspection]. The #33 car that was raced in New Hampshire was brought back to the R&D centre after the race and that car did not meet specifications, as a result these penalties have been issued."

The points penalty has dropped Bowyer from second place in the Chase down to 12th and last among the title contenders, placing him exactly where he was before taking his first win of the season last Sunday, although with a larger gap to leader Denny Hamlin.

While Richard Childress was also docked 150 points in the owners' standings, crew chief Shane Wilson and car chief Chad Haney have been suspended for the next six races, Wilson additionally being fined $150.000.

There was no word from NASCAR regarding the cars run at Loudon by Bowyer's team-mates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, which both passed inspection following Sunday's Chase opener.

Scott Miller, current director of competition at RCR and former crew chief for Bowyer's team-mate Burton, is expected to replace Wilson in his role while he serves his suspension.

The team has announced that it will appeal against the penalties.

Ekstrom expects NASCAR return soon

Two-time DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom expects to return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series soon after making his oval debut at Richmond last weekend with Red Bull Racing Team.

The Swede had a respectable run on Saturday night at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway, finishing 31st but running close to a top-20 position in the first half of the race, eventually crossing the finish line ahead of series' regulars Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While others trying the transition from different series into NASCAR have taken a more gradual approach in the past, the Red Bull driver ventured into racing on a short oval track at Cup level for his second stock car outing, but still managed to have a trouble-free run.

The 32-year-old said his experience last Saturday went beyond what he anticipated and made him earn more respect for the series. Although he has returned to Europe to drive again for Audi in the DTM, Ekstrom expects to be back in the Sprint Cup soon.

"I have to say for the first race on an oval, I was expecting it to be long and hard, but didn't expect it to be so action packed," Ekstrom said. "As soon as I started after the first restart, it was wild. That is nothing like what I have even come close to.

"I respect these guys even more who are doing this all the time -- the way you have to drive, stay focused on every single lap, hit your marks all the time, and tune the car up. [Saturday's race] is something to build on. I had a great experience and great support from the team. I am really appreciative of this chance.

"A big thanks to Red Bull and hopefully I will be back in NASCAR again soon."

Reed Sorenson will return behind the wheel of the #83 Red Bull Toyota next weekend at Loudon, but with only four races left in the DTM schedule, which finishes in late November at Shanghai, Ekstrom is expected to drive again for the team this season.

Furious Bowyer insists penalty unjust

Clint Bowyer insists his team did not cheat to claim victory in the Chase opener last week at Loudon as he made a furious statement in front of the media on Friday at Dover International Speedway.

The Richard Childress driver has dropped from second to 12th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series play-off after the car he drove to victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last Sunday was deemed illegal during a detailed inspection done by NASCAR this week.

Speaking for the first time since his penalties were issued, the former Nationwide Series champion claimed he "wouldn't cheat to win a race in this sport," as he lamented his win being tarnished by the controversy.

Although he led 177 of the race's 300 laps at Loudon last Sunday, Bowyer claimed victory by succeeding at stretching his fuel mileage enough following his final pitstop, while others such as Tony Stewart were unable to do so despite running the same fuel strategy.

Bowyer reiterated that his team had been warned before Loudon after the car he raced at Richmond a week earlier was found to be too close to the tolerances of the height of the quarter-panels on the rear end.

After that, he said RCR took notice of NASCAR's warning and made sure the issue was corrected on the car it would race in the Chase opener, which officials advised would be checked in detail at their R&D facility following the event.

"Who in the right mind, knowing that they're going to take that car, wouldn't have made triple sure that that thing was right before it went to the racetrack?" said Bowyer.

"I could've hit the wall doing a burnout and I could've done a lot of things that other drivers and other teams have done in the post-race celebration this year. We didn't want to push that in NASCAR's face.

"We appreciated them warning us on the fact that we tried to fix the situation. They told us about it Wednesday [before Loudon]. Wednesday the car leaves, so we had about two hours to jump on that car and make sure that that thing was right."

Bowyer questioned the process that NASCAR undertook to measure his Loudon winning car this week at its facility. He believes the magnitude of his penalty is being set as an example by the ruling body to rival teams that may be pushing the limits of the technical regulations.

He is adamant that once the rumours started about his car being outside the tolerances, NASCAR was pushed to penalise him.

"How can a car pass pre and post-race inspection and three days latter get such a huge fine?" said Bowyer. "They take the car apart, completely apart, to measure this thing and in my opinion that's not how the car that was raced on the racetrack.

"Once the rumours started it wasn't long before the penalty. I think NASCAR has a lot of problems with a lot of cars on the racetrack being out of the box and I think they needed to set an example with something.

"I think the penalty doesn't fit the crime. 60 thousandths of an inch folks! Grab a quarter out of your pocket and that's 65 thousandths of an inch thick. Less than the thickness of that quarter right there resulted in a 150-point fine. Before or after this, grab that and ask yourselves if that was a performance-enhancing thing right there!"

Bowyer insists that his car being pushed by a service truck following the race may have well caused it to drop outside NASCAR's box. His #33 Chevrolet ran out of fuel after a celebratory burnout and had to be towed to Victory Lane for the post-race celebrations.

The RCR driver reminded the press that his car passed the post-race inspection and claimed that while officials did not find anything irregular, Jimmie Johnson's and Denny Hamlin machines needed to go through the height-sticks twice at Loudon before being passed.

"Is it possible that a two-tonne wrecker [truck] can bend the quarter panel 60 thousandths of an inch? You have to ask yourselves that," said Bowyer. "I got hit during the race, turned around a couple of times; racing is tough.

"If this thing was knocked out half of an inch you could see something being made, but if it passed the height sticks [in the post-race inspection], the very height sticks that the #48 [Johnson] and the #11 [Hamlin] did not pass, then miraculously enough when that same crew pushed it back around after 20 it passed. That's pretty amazing.

"My dad owns a towing business, has done since I was born in 1979. I know a little something about wreckers. About 15 years ago they took their front bumpers off for this very reason.

"I remember back when people used to come on a snow storm [and say] 'please push me out of the snowbank'. You pushed them out and two days later they showed up with the bodyshop bill in their hand, wanting you to to pay for the damage you did to the back of their car. This could happen."

Richard Childress Racing is hoping to get the penalties handed to Bowyer and his team overturned through an appeal process, which has deferred the suspensions and fines imposed for now.