Sunday, September 8, 2013

Did Michael Waltrip Racing Fix A Race?




Saturday night was the last race before the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason. With ten laps to go, Ryan Newman was leading and holding on to the final Wild Card spot, Jeff Gordon was in the 10th and final regular spot, and MWR driver Martin Truex, Jr., was outside looking in. On that lap, Truex's teammate Clint Bowyer was told "39's [Newman] going to win the race," "Well, that sucks" the next lap, then "Is your arm starting to hurt? I bet it’s hot. Itch it." The next time in Turn 4, Bowyer spun and the caution came out. The field came to pit road for tires, and Newman was shuffled back to fifth. Then the third MWR car, Brian Vickers, was called to pit road surprisingly at the restart, with the crew telling him "You've got to pit this time. We need that 1 point." With Bowyer pitting a third unexplained time, the two teammates finished well behind in the field. That allowed Joey Logano to finish far enough ahead of Gordon to clinch the 10th spot. Had Gordon finished in the 10th spot, Logano would've clinched the second Wild Card and Truex would've been out; but with Logano ahead and Gordon inelligible, Truex was able to clinch the final spot. Both Gordon and Newman are out of the Chase.
The oddity of the spin, the radio communications, and a NASCAR.com reporter overhearing Michael Waltrip tell Truex "You've got awesome teammates" has fans and media asking if MWR fixed the results. NASCAR announced Sunday they are looking into evidence of tampering with the results. MWR has had issues in NASCAR before: in 2006, they were accused of stealing another team's sway bar, and in 2007 they were penalized for illegal fuel additives in Daytona 500 qualifying.
Read more at the Associated Press.

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