Toyota team caught cheating already, now lying

UPDATE #2 Waltrip's Toyota was impounded, with Hunter raising the possibility Waltrip will not be allowed to run that particular car in the 150s or the 500. "We'll go over that car with a fine-tooth comb … and I don't know how long we'll keep it," Hunter said. Sterno? That's the horsepower trick that rivals suspect tripped up Waltrip when he was busted by NASCAR in the pre-qualifying inspection line for having some unknown "substance" in his intake manifold. NASCAR's Robin Pemberton, the vice president for competition, said that the manifold was being sent back the Concord R&D center for analysis. Presumably the substance could have been some type of oxidant, to provide a bit of horsepower for a short period of time. For years, stock-car teams have at times used such illegal chemical additives at Daytona and Talladega, where NASCAR severely restricts air to the engine, to limit speeds. Ty Norris, the general manager of Waltrip's team, insisted that it was not Sterno: "No, no, no, no. They found some oil in the manifold and said it shouldn't be there," Norris said. "They thought something was amiss. So we changed manifolds, and had the same issue. We showed NASCAR we thought it was blow-by engine oil. Winston Salem Journal

[Editor's Note: Blow-by engine oil? Really? Last time we checked air is rushing at a violent rate into the engine through the intake manifold. It's quite interesting to learn how Toyota has managed to have the air flow go the other way and still have the engine run. Perhaps they have found a way to defy the laws of physics. After all they are Toyota, so rich they can probably re-write history books too.]

02/11/07 While it's not yet clear whether Waltrip's team has done anything illegal, NASCAR is holding onto Waltrip's car at the track for an undetermined amount of time to make sure.

Amid widespread speculation among rival teams in the garage area that Waltrip's team could put an illegal fuel additive in its manifold to increase engine combustion, NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton said he did not know if the substance could enhance performance.

"We don't know that, and we aren't going to speculate on it," Pemberton said.

The team put a new manifold on the car and Waltrip posted the 25th-fastest speed of the day, but NASCAR officials later impounded it.

"We'll go over that car with a fine-toothed comb," Hunter said.

Michael Waltrip Racing general manager Ty Norris said it was "ridiculous" to ask whether the substance might have been put there intentionally by a crew member.

"I think it's probably making great print (news stories), but I don't know that it's going to be as exciting as everybody thinks it's going to be," Norris said.

02/11/07 NASCAR confiscated the intake manifold on the Toyota of Michael Waltrip prior to qualifying today after finding a foreign substance inside it. Michael Waltrip will still be allowed to qualify the car with a replacement intake manifold, Robin Pemberton said. "Our inspector caught a substance inside that we didn't really know what it was." Pemberton would not discuss penalties, only saying there will be answers by the end of the week. He said that is the only car with major inspection issues so far today. Senedaily.com