Penske deal with Front Row at Richmond to help Logano? UPDATE:
Penske Racing may have cut a deal with Front Row Motorsports in the
closing laps at Richmond for track position to help get #22-Joey Logano
in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. In radio communications
reviewed Wednesday by The Associated Press for Front Row driver
#38-David Gilliland, his spotter informs the team of a request to let
Logano pass him in the final laps of Saturday night's race. Logano was
trying to claim a spot in the 12-driver Chase field. Both Penske and
Front Row are Ford teams and thus considered partners. A voice on the
radio, believed to be crew chief Frank Kerr, asks who the request is
coming from. The spotter replies: "We've got the big dog and all his
cronies." Kerr then says: "Travis knows what I've been asking for," an
apparent reference to Penske Racing competition director Travis Geisler.
Logano passed Gilliland on a restart and finished 22nd, one spot ahead
of Gilliland and good enough for a berth in the Chase field. "Good job,
good job, man," the spotter says after the race. "Hopefully we'll get
something out of that." Statistics analyzed by AP also show Gilliland's
lap times dropped off by almost 1 second from the times he was running
prior to the radio communication.(Associated Press)(9-11-2013)
UPDATE: "NASCAR is aware of reports about the #22 and #38 radio
communications at Richmond International Raceway and is looking into it,
but has yet to see anything in full context that requires any
action."(NASCAR)(9-11-2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment