By: Dustin Long – MRN
NASCAR is reviewing Saturday night’s race to see if Michael Waltrip Racing influenced the event’s outcome to ensure Martin Truex Jr. made the Chase.
NASCAR issued a statement Sunday afternoon that it is reviewing the race “per protocol and has no plans for further statement until that process is complete.”
A series of events in the final laps helped Truex make the Chase, and kept Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman from doing so. It started when Clint Bowyer – who had previously clinched a Chase spot – spun to bring out a caution with seven laps left and Newman leading. Had Newman won, he would have taken the final Wild Card spot instead of Truex.
NASCAR did not penalize Bowyer for his spin even though it helped his teammate.
“We didn’t see anything that indicated that anything like that was taking place,” NASCAR President Mike Helton told The Associated Press before Sunday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway.
“And it’s natural when everything was as close as it was between who was going to get in and not go in, to scratch your heads, and try to figure out and wonder why. But we didn’t see anything initially that indicated that. We’ll go back through all the video and everything to be sure because we take the responsibility very serious, to be sure … that everybody has had a fair chance.”
ESPN aired Bowyer’s in-car audio, which raised questions about if he spun intentionally to help Truex.
“(Newman) is going to win the race,” spotter Brett Griffin told Bowyer. A win by Newman would have kept Truex from making the Chase because it would have given him two wins to Truex’s one.
About 30 seconds later, crew chief Brian Pattie asked Bowyer: “Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it’s hot in there. Itch it.”
Bowyer responded: “Oh yeah.”
Seconds later, Bowyer was told Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running with him and then Bowyer spins.
“He just spun right out,” Earnhardt said. “That’s the craziest thing I ever saw. He just came right around. We were going into (Turns) 3 and 4 … he was hemming around on the brakes and jerking the car around, and then the thing just spun out. It was crazy.”
Other questions have since been raised. Although Bowyer spun and suffered no major damage, he lost two laps after repeated pit stops and finished 25th. That allowed Joey Logano, who was running a lap behind the leaders, to pass Bowyer for position and gain a point.
For Truex to make the Chase, he needed Logano to clinch a top-10 spot instead of a Wild Card. That would allow Truex to take the second Wild Card since Kasey Kahne was set to take the other one.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that Truex’s other teammate, Brian Vickers, was called into the pits in the final laps. Vickers, who was a lap down at the time, had been running ahead of Logano.
The Associated Press also reported that Ty Norris, general manager at Michael Waltrip Racing, told Vickers he would have to pit because “we need that one point” for Logano so Truex could earn a Wild Card.
“We’re probably going to pit here on green,” Norris told Vickers, according to the report. “Are you talking to me?” Vickers responded and later said, “I don’t understand. Pit right now?”
“You’ve got to pit this time,” Norris told Vickers, according to The A.P. “We need that one point.”
Logano finished 22nd. That gave him 751 points to clinch a top-10 Chase spot. Jeff Gordon finished with 750 points.
Gordon was defensive when asked Saturday night if he thought Bowyer spun intentionally to help Truex, saying: “I’m not speculating. Why should I comment on speculation. I don’t know the facts.”
Sunday afternoon, Gordon wrote on Twitter: “Was feeling pretty bad about missing the #Chase but after seeing all the details out now, I feel even worse for @RyanNewman39.”
Newman briefly discussed Bowyer’s actions and how it impacted him Saturday night.
“They are teammates,” Newman said of Bowyer and Truex. “I don’t know if (Bowyer) looked at the scoring pylon, knew I was leading. It doesn’t matter. If that was the case, I’ll find out one way or another.”