Woops. Apparently Joe Gibbs racing shimmed their gas pedals with magnets to reduce the amount of movement the gas pedal would go prior. NASCAR was initiating some dyno tests and chassis tests on the Toyota’s, who have been stunningly dominant this season, and found the devices.
“In our post-race inspection — yesterday was the day we were going to chassis dyno cars — our inspectors discovered some shims that were placed on the gas pedal stop,” Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, said Sunday. “It was magnets that were about a quarter-inch thick that prevented the accelerator from going 100 percent wide open.
“The intention was to manipulate the numbers that we get when we get our information and data off the dyno.”Pemberton said NASCAR officials will meet Monday and Tuesday to determine what penalties will be handed out.
“I anticipate that we haven’t seen the end of it yet,” Pemberton said when asked if the penalties were likely to be severe. “We historically don’t make our decisions within a 24-hour period. It takes time to get everybody in a group and talk about it.”
J.D. Gibbs, son of owner Joe Gibbs and president of the team, said JGR takes full responsibility for the actions of its employees.
“Let me just say that, first and foremost, that that was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys there at JGR,” Gibbs said. “I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to Toyota guys. A couple guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us.”
