H
HardScrabble
Guest
If ya wonder why Joe Gibbs commands the respect among competitors and officials that he does, not to mention the loyalty of his people; your answer is in his response to the Home Depot woes at Texas yesterday. Sometimes ya gotta take your lumps.............
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Joe Gibbs said on Saturday that his team was embarrassed after NASCAR impounded Tony Stewart's Chevrolet, and vowed to find out what had occurred.
NASCAR took the car -- which had not been raced as a Chevrolet Monte Carlo -- on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway after it failed inspection.
"I want to apologize to NASCAR," Gibbs said. "This is our fault. We are trying to go back and see what happened. This thing is our fault, and there's no excuse."
Stewart's Chevrolet failed the "X measurement" test, a measurement from the corners of the decklid up to the corners of the roof.
NASCAR plans to take the car back to its research and development center in Concord, N.C. Stewart's team rolled out a backup car for Sunday's Samsung/Radio Shack 500, and despite limited practice time, he qualified 22nd.
Meanwhile, Gibbs is left to find answers to what went wrong with the construction of the original car -- answers he promised to find.
"I am not sure what happened, but we are going to find out," Gibbs said. "We kind of embarrassed ourselves here."
Gibbs didn't comment on a possible penalty from NASCAR for the violation, but he did that he felt the impounding of the car was "pretty substantial."
NASCAR President Mike Helton didn't comment on any future penalties to the No. 20 team, except to say on Friday that "taking their car out of their system is quite a reaction."
"That car has a lot of stuff on it that we would like to run here," Gibbs said. "It's our fault for being in that situation. We have a 12-year-history here, and everyone knows what we stand for.
"You have a reputation, you work hard to get it, and that is why you shouldn't mess up. We're going to have to pay the price here."
Gibbs says the violation will lead to more extensive procedures in the ways his team checks the cars before they are deemed race-ready.
"What it's going to take is another procedure," Gibbs said, "We thought we had 100 of them. Everyone has to sign off on everything on those cars."
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Joe Gibbs said on Saturday that his team was embarrassed after NASCAR impounded Tony Stewart's Chevrolet, and vowed to find out what had occurred.
NASCAR took the car -- which had not been raced as a Chevrolet Monte Carlo -- on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway after it failed inspection.
"I want to apologize to NASCAR," Gibbs said. "This is our fault. We are trying to go back and see what happened. This thing is our fault, and there's no excuse."
Stewart's Chevrolet failed the "X measurement" test, a measurement from the corners of the decklid up to the corners of the roof.
NASCAR plans to take the car back to its research and development center in Concord, N.C. Stewart's team rolled out a backup car for Sunday's Samsung/Radio Shack 500, and despite limited practice time, he qualified 22nd.
Meanwhile, Gibbs is left to find answers to what went wrong with the construction of the original car -- answers he promised to find.
"I am not sure what happened, but we are going to find out," Gibbs said. "We kind of embarrassed ourselves here."
Gibbs didn't comment on a possible penalty from NASCAR for the violation, but he did that he felt the impounding of the car was "pretty substantial."
NASCAR President Mike Helton didn't comment on any future penalties to the No. 20 team, except to say on Friday that "taking their car out of their system is quite a reaction."
"That car has a lot of stuff on it that we would like to run here," Gibbs said. "It's our fault for being in that situation. We have a 12-year-history here, and everyone knows what we stand for.
"You have a reputation, you work hard to get it, and that is why you shouldn't mess up. We're going to have to pay the price here."
Gibbs says the violation will lead to more extensive procedures in the ways his team checks the cars before they are deemed race-ready.
"What it's going to take is another procedure," Gibbs said, "We thought we had 100 of them. Everyone has to sign off on everything on those cars."