Roush accuses Toyota team of stealing-UPDATE 2

Roush accuses Toyota team of stealing-UPDATE 2

UPDATE 2: Michael Waltrip admitted to Scene Daily on Friday afternoon that it was his team that took the swaybar. ?It was a mistake,? Waltrip told Scene Daily. ?Look at the back of these toolboxes. There are sway bars, there?s jack handles, and it wound up in our possession. We called them and said, ?We want to give this back.?? A person familiar with the incident who requested anonymity because he?s not authorized to discuss it also told The Associated Press it was Waltrip?s team. ———————————————————– UPDATE: Toyota officials on Wednesday identified the Roush Fenway Racing part that owner Jack Roush said was found in a Toyota team’s possession during a Sprint Cup post-race teardown as a spring. Jim Aust, the president and chief executive officer of Toyota Racing Development, said once the part was found to belong to RFR that it was returned. He was uncertain how the part, discovered on a table with other Toyota parts, got there or from which team it came. “I don’t understand the whole procedure when a teardown happens,” said Aust, referring to a post-race process in which several cars are broken down by NASCAR inspectors. “The only thing I know is it wound up with parts we had and [which were] returned to Roush. “It’s unfortunate it happened the way it did. It wasn’t anything intentional. There’s no reason to be done intentional. I have no idea how it happened to begin with.” Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said the part in question was not a spring, but he would not elaborate. No one at RFR has identified which Toyota team had the part. “Jack is the only one to talk to at this time and he presently doesn’t want to make any additional comments,” Smith said. ————————————————————- ESPN the Magazine has an interesting and potentially explosive quote from Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush as part of its 10th Anniversary issue, which is on newsstands this week. Two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the magazine quotes Roush as saying, ?We had a proprietary Roush Fenway part go missing from one of my race teams, and we recovered it from a Toyota team. I?m not going to say which team it is, but we are considering legal action, or getting NASCAR involved.? If Roush?s allegations prove to be true, this could become NASCAR?s version of the recent spy scandal that rocked Formula One racing, in which the McLaren-Mercedes team was caught with confidential, proprietary test information belonging to rival Ferrari. We contacted Roush Fenway Racing today in search of further information ? including team was involved and the specific part in question — and we [SIRIUS Speedway w/ Dave Moody] hope to have a statement from them later today. Motorsports Soapbox / Jayski.com

Date: March / 29 / 2008
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Car News Overview for March / 29 / 2008

Other News:
Goodyear completes 2nd tire test at Darlington (March / 29 / 2008)
NASCAR will not intervene in Roush MWR ?missing-stolen? part dispute (March / 29 / 2008)
Sadler hopes to run halfway in Martinsville race (March / 30 / 2008)

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