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Gibbs facing big penalties after cheating allegations

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Joe Gibbs Racing could face severe penalties for infractions discovered during an inspection following Saturday’s Nationwide Series Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

Apparently upset at engine rule changes handed down last month by NASCAR to limit Toyota’s dominance over the other manufacturers in the Nationwide Series, members of JGR allegedly put an object under the accelerator pedal to limit horsepower during a chassis dynometer test.

“There was a piece there that apparently wouldn’t let the pedal go all the way down in the dyno, and it showed like we had less horsepower than we actually did,” JGR team president J.D. Gibbs said during a news conference Sunday at MIS. “Let me just say, first and foremost, that was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys there at JGR. I want to apologize to NASCAR, to our partners, to the Toyota guys.

“A couple guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us. To me, the frustrating part is, why? I know they were probably frustrated from the standpoint (of) wanting to show that, ‘Hey, we have less horsepower than ever before.’ Wanting it to look like we’re handicapped, more than we actually were. I understand that, but that’s not an excuse.”

Gibbs said drivers Joey Logano and Tony Stewart were not involved. Stewart, running his last Nationwide race for JGR, finished third and Logano seventh.

Asked if he had identified those responsible, Gibbs said: “Yeah, I’ve had some conversations with a couple of our key guys, and I’ve got a pretty good idea but not enough now to say, ‘Hey, here is exactly what it was.’ … I’ve got a pretty good idea of the guys from our Nationwide team who were responsible.”

Joe Gibbs, who is known for running a clean program, voiced his displeasure over the incident in a statement: “If this alleged incident proves true, it goes against everything we stand for as an organization. We will take full responsibility and accept any penalties NASCAR levies against us. We will also investigate internally how this incident took place and who was involved and make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure that this kind of situation never happens again.

“The expectations we set for everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing begins with me, and I personally apologize to NASCAR, our partners and our fans for the negative light this situation has cast upon all of us.”

NASCAR is expected to hand down penalties in the next few days. J.D. Gibbs suggested those penalties could be severe.

“I think in years past they kind of looked at the engine dyno thing as hit or miss,” Gibbs said. “But now they’re starting to make rules based off that. … I think for them it will be bigger, and I don’t know exactly what. I met with them this morning. I’m sure it will be a pretty big slap.”

Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, said he was “astonished and frankly incredulous” when he heard about Saturday’s incident.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening, because it is clearly defined in the entry forms that you don’t do this sort of thing,” White said. “But I’m sure Joe and J.D. will take care of that internally. Whatever fans think, they’re going to think. We’re just going to keep working on our stuff.”

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NASCAR Wire Service

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NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: News And Notes - Nashville Superspeedway

Third Time’s A Charm For Points Leader Benson

Johnny Benson (No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota) earned his way into an elite group of drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Saturday with his win at Nashville Superspeedway.

Benson became the fifth driver to win three races in a row joining drivers Ron Hornaday, Jr. (No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet), teammate Mike Skinner (No. 5 Toyota Tundra Toyota) and former series champions Greg Biffle and Todd Bodine (No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota).
Third time was the charm for Benson, who previously fell short in 2006 and 2007.

The series veteran’s victory also marked additional firsts. The win was his fourth of the season—each in the last five races. That hadn’t happened since Biffle went on a similar hot streak en route to the title. Maybe that’s an omen for Benson, who is looking for his first series championship.

Benson also became Nashville Superspeedway’s first repeat winner in eight races dating to 2001.

While Benson retains his lead in the championship standings, he can’t feel comfortable. He leads by only 45 points over defending champion Hornaday, the closest since 2003 when Brendan Gaughan led Travis Kvapil by seven.

History favors the Bill Davis Racing driver holding or extending his advantage when the series next competes at Bristol Motor Speedway on Aug. 20.

Benson is the defending winner of the O’Reilly 200 as he bids to become the first to win four straight.

Erik Darnell Is Movin’ On Up

With 10 races remaining in the 2008 season, Erik Darnell (No. 99 Northern Tool + Equipment Ford) finds himself climbing the points ladder.

In his third season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the Roush Fenway Racing driver got off to a strong start at Daytona winning the Keystone Light Pole. But his night ended early after being caught up in an accident.

That set the tone for an up-and-down run of nine stars in which Darnell recorded only two top 10s.

Then came race 10. Darnell edged Benson in June’s photo finish at Michigan International Speedway marking the closest margin of victory in series history since electronic scoring was implemented.

Since that second career victory, Darnell has posted four top-five finishes including a pair of seconds. He’s also moved from 12th to sixth in points.

As the Roush camp looks for it’s golden 50th victory in the series, Darnell heads to tracks where he’s made strong runs.

Darnell has been solid on the short tracks with a second at Memphis and fifth at Martinsville.

Take that success, add recent momentum and chances are good Darnell could bring home his second win of the season at Bristol.

This Week’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Leaders
(Through 15 races of the 25-race season)
Points leader – Johnny Benson (2,071)
Driver Rating – Ron Hornaday Jr. (114.5)
Laps led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (717)
Victories – Johnny Benson (4)
Keystone Light Poles – Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner (3)
Top-five finishes – Johnny Benson (9)
Top-10 finishes – Mike Sinner (12)
Raybestos Rookie Leader – Colin Braun
Races led – Ron Hornaday Jr. (13)
Weeks in Top 10 – Three drivers with 15

Manufacturers’ Battle

Toyota maintains the lead after Nashville in the race for the Manufacturers’ Championship title. The trucks head to Bristol where Ford and Toyota have alternated trips to Victory Lane over the last four races.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2008 Manufacturers’ Championship Point Standings following Race 15 of 25 at Nashville Superspeedway:

Toyota 105
Chevrolet 98
Ford 73
Dodge 54

Rookie Standings

With a top-10 finish in the Music City, Roush Fenway Racing driver Colin Braun (No. 6 Con-Way Freight Ford) extends his lead to 16 points over Donny Lia (No. Nationrides.com Chevrolet) in the competition for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors.

Braun started the race fourth and finished sixth. 

NASCAR Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings after 15 races of the 2008 season:

1. Colin Braun 155
2. Donny Lia 139
3. Justin Marks 127
4. Brian Scott 116
5. Marc Mitchell 100
6. Andy Lally 62
7. Scott Speed 61
8. Phillip McGilton 38

In The Loop: Still Chasing A Victory

Jack Sprague has gone winless over an entire season only twice. Once was 1995, the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. The second was 2003, when he ran only two of the 25 races.

Otherwise, he’s won at least one race. But in this 2008 season, Sprague has yet to visit Victory Lane.

But the statistics suggest it’ll come sooner than later. Sprague has been strong this season, and compares favorably with those drivers who have won in 2008.

Sprague has a Driver Rating of 90.9 (sixth-best), an Average Running Position of 12.0 (eighth), 120 Fastest Laps Run (fifth) and has spent 71.6% of the total laps running among the top 15 (seventh).

Mike Skinner has also gone winless in 2008 and, like Sprague, ranks among the best in the series in most Loop Data statistics. Skinner has a Driver Rating of 97.1 (fourth), an Average Running Position of 9.6 (fourth), 63 Fastest Laps Run (eighth) and has a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 83.3% (second).

Both past champions have contended for a victory in 2008. Skinner leads the series in top-10 finishes with 12, while Sprague has four top-five and seven top-10 finishes.

Up Next:

The series heads east on Interstate 40 to swap paint at Bristol Motor Speedway Wednesday, Aug. 20.

The Johnny Benson show could continue. The driver is the defending winner of the O’Reilly 200.

Fast Facts

The Race: O’Reilly 200

The Place: Bristol Motor Speedway

The Date: August 20, 2008

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Carroll lashes out at NASCAR; IndyCar tells ESPN to take a hike

KOONTZ LAKE, Ind. — When it comes to speaking his mind, especially when it comes to NASCAR, Jerry Carroll certainly doesn’t hold back.

Carroll owns Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., and in 2005 he filed a lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation (ISC) alleging antitrust violations. The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this year and Kentucky Speedway has appealed.

Meanwhile, three months ago Carroll agreed to sell his track to Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI), with SMI having until Aug. 18 to complete the $78 million purchase. Both SMI Chairman Bruton Smith and Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage were at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday looking over the scene. They’re fully aware that NASCAR is not giving a race date to Kentucky for the 2009 Sprint Cup season, but SMI is considering moving a Cup date from one of its existing tracks to Kentucky if the purchase is completed.

Carroll said last week that if SMI had not offered to buy the speedway, he would have continued to operate the track with a prime IndyCar date as well as a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Nationwide Series date. But in all likelihood, last Saturday night’s Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky was his last at the helm of the 1-1/2-mile oval just a few miles south of the Ohio River.

The entire ordeal has left him with a negative opinion of the powers that be at NASCAR.

When Carroll built Kentucky Speedway, NASCAR was looking to expand its series to the west and become a truly national sport. With tracks such as Bristol Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway located within the same geographic area as Kentucky Speedway, NASCAR did not want to add another race date to a part of the country that already had NASCAR opportunities.

Carroll built the track anyway and now realizes that just because he built it does not guarantee that they will come.

“I’ve been an office building developer, I’ve been involved in the horse business, I’ve owned tracks, but I have not been successful in this business,” he said on Saturday. “NASCAR beat me to a pulp. They didn’t give us the time of day. The only way we could do something was to sell to Bruton Smith. [NASCAR] could care less whether we put people in the seats or whether people in this area were going to get to see NASCAR racing. They were going to teach us a lesson. We were the poster child and they beat us.”

While Carroll was viewed by some as a modern day Don Quixote for standing up to NASCAR, he says the battle was heavily tilted against him.

“It’s like going against somebody who has a total dictatorship,” Carroll said. “NASCAR owns so much of it that people like me can’t get into the sport. They just don’t want us. How many private tracks have been built since we built this one? None. We did what we had to do. NASCAR will do whatever it takes to win out. A dictatorship is a very powerful tool. They are very powerful to beat. I do know that we were never able to play on an even playing field. We were never even given a chance.”

A NASCAR spokesman responded to Carroll’s assertions by saying, “Contrary to Mr. Carroll’s opinion, the fact that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series does not run in Kentucky has nothing to do with him. It has to do with our existing schedule and ultimately what is best for everyone in the sport.

“It’s well known by now that prior to building the track Mr. Carroll was told that a new NSCS date would not be granted. Let’s also not forget that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky issued a strongly worded opinion on behalf of NASCAR in dismissing the case back in January. NASCAR already runs very successful NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at Kentucky Speedway. We have a great fan base in Kentucky that is very supportive of NASCAR.”

Bruce Martin

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Nascar 2008 Season Highlights

2008 Season Highlights
• Tony Stewart won the season-opening race at Daytona then repeated his trip to Victory Lane in the second race (California). It was just the third time in NASCAR Nationwide Series history a driver had won the first two races of the season (Dale Earnhardt in 1986 and Chad Little in 1995).
• Mark Martin won the third race of the season (Las Vegas) – ending Stewart’s bid to become the first driver to win the first three races of a season in NASCAR Nationwide Series history.
• Matt Kenseth posted the first victory for Ford in 2008 with his win at Atlanta – making three different manufacturers to win in the first four races.
• Clint Bowyer won at Bristol, becoming the 10th consecutive different race winner at the Tennessee short track.
• Kyle Busch posted his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of 2008 with his win at Texas. Busch has won in all three of NASCAR’s national series this season, making this the fourth consecutive season he has won in all three series. Only two other drivers have accomplished the feat and both did so only once – Kevin Harvick in 2003 and Terry Labonte in 1995.
• Kyle Busch became the second repeat winner with his victory at Phoenix. Like Tony Stewart, Busch’s wins came in consecutive races.
• Kyle Busch posted his third consecutive victory of 2008 with his win at Mexico City. Busch’s victories all came on different type tracks.
• Tony Stewart won his second restrictor-plate race with his victory at Talladega.
• Tony Stewart won his fourth race of the season and the sixth consecutive for Joe Gibbs Racing with his win at Darlington – his first there in any NASCAR series.
• Kyle Busch became the second four-time winner of the season with his victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
• Denny Hamlin became the third multiple-race winner with his victory in the Heluva Good! 200 at Dover – the second of his season.
• Brad Keselowski became the first driver to post his career first victory in 2008 with his win at Nashville.
• Joey Logano won the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo at Kentucky and became the second first-time winner in as many races.
• Carl Edwards edged Clint Bowyer to win at Milwaukee, posting his first victory since Nashville in June 2007.
• Tony Stewart continued his partial-season dominance winning his fifth race of the season with his victory at New Hampshire.
• Denny Hamlin won the Winn-Dixie 250 powered by Coca-Cola – the ninth victory for the No. 20 car this season.
• Kyle Busch won at Chicagoland, the third straight Joe Gibbs Racing victory and the 13th of the year for the organization.
• Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at Gateway, posting his second victory in 2008.
• Kyle Busch dominated at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, leading 197 of the 200 laps raced en route to his series-leading sixth victory.
• Ron Fellows won the rain-shortened event at Montreal, posting his first series victory since Watkins Glen in July 2001.

Qualifying
• 136 drivers have attempted to qualify for at least one race this season.
• There have been 13 different pole winners in 2008:
Tony Stewart (two)
Kyle Busch (two)
Brian Vickers (two)
Carl Edwards (two)
Joey Logano (two)
Colin Braun (one)
Kasey Kahne (one)
Brad Keselowski (one)
Landon Cassill (one)
Bryan Clauson (one)
David Reutimann (one)
Jamie McMurray (one)
Scott Pruett (one)
• There have been five first-time pole winners this season: Colin Braun (Mexico City), Joey Logano (Nashville-2), Brad Keselowski (Milwaukee), Landon Cassill (New Hampshire) and Bryan Clauson (Daytona-2).
• Qualifying was canceled at California, Atlanta, Bristol and Texas.
• The 53 cars that attempted to make the field at Daytona has been the largest of the season.
• 49 drivers have posted at least one top-10 start this season, led by Clint Bowyer with 19.

The Races
• 128 drivers have qualified for at least one NASCAR Nationwide Series race this season.
• There have been 11 different race winners in 2008:
Kyle Busch (six)
Tony Stewart (five)
Denny Hamlin (three)
Mark Martin (one)
Matt Kenseth (one)
Clint Bowyer (one)
Scott Wimmer (one)
Carl Edwards (one)
Brad Keselowski (one)
Joey Logano (one)
Ron Fellows (one)
• 47 drivers have registered at least one top-10 finish in 2008, led by Clint Bowyer with 19.
• Six races have been extended by green-white-checkered finishes in 2008: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Richmond, Darlington, Charlotte and Daytona-2.
• Two races have been shortened in 2008: Bristol (171 laps) and Montreal (48 laps).
• Kyle Busch has won six races this season – in three different cars, for two different owners. Jamie McMurray won three races in 2004 – each for a different car owner.

First Time Around
Joey Logano posted his first career pole in qualifying for Nashville. Brad Keselowski followed by winning his first career race. It was the 29th time in series history that a first-time pole and first-time race winner occurred in the same event. In only five of those 29 times did the same driver post both a first pole and
first win in the same race.

Rocket Start
Joey Logano posted his second series pole and then won at Kentucky – posting his first career win in just his third NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He became the 19th driver to score his first victory within his first three series races. Eight of the other 18 drivers posted their first series win in 1982, the first year for the series and 14 did so within the first three years of the series. Logano joined Derrike Cope (1994 – third race), Ron Fellows (1998 – second race) and Kurt Busch (2006 - first race) as the only drivers to achieve their first win within their first three races since 1987.

NASCAR Record
James Hylton competed in the second Daytona race, his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race since June 24, 2006. At 72 years, 313 days old, he extended his record as the oldest competitor in any of the top three NASCAR series.

Dominance Rebirth
Tony Stewart has won five of the seven NASCAR Nationwide Series races that he has participated in this season. Success in a partial season is not a new concept in the series. Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin both had very successful partial seasons over the years. Earnhardt won five of the 11 series races he
participated in during 1986; three of seven in 1991 and two of four in 1993. Martin won seven of 14 NASCAR Nationwide Series races that he ran in 1993, six of 14 in both 1996 and 1999 and has one victory in his two races this season.

Series Records
• Denny Hamlin won at Richmond, scoring the fifth consecutive victory for Joe Gibbs Racing. It was the first time in the history of the NASCAR Nationwide Series that an owner posted five straight wins. Roush Fenway Racing recorded four consecutive victories in 2000 (Rockingham through Darlington) with Mark Martin winning Rockingham, Atlanta and Darlington (in the No. 60) and Jeff Burton winning Las Vegas (in the No. 9). Three different drivers registered victories for JGR during the streak: Kyle Busch (Texas and Phoenix in the No. 18 and Mexico in the No. 20), Tony Stewart (Talladega in the No. 20) and Hamlin (Richmond in the No. 20). Stewart extended the Gibbs streak to six races with his victory at Darlington (the fourth straight for the No. 20).
• JGR continued its record-setting season, registering its 14th victory of the season with Busch’s win at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. That broke a tie with Richard Childress Racing for the most wins by a car owner. The RCR mark was set in 2007.

First-Timers
Start Pole Win
James Buescher (Phoenix) Colin Braun (Mexico City) Brad Keselowski (Nashville)
Kevin O’Connell (Mexico City) Joey Logano (Nashville) Joey Logano (Kentucky)
Ryan Hackett (Richmond) Brad Keselowski (Milwaukee)
Joey Logano (Dover) Landon Cassill (New Hampshire)
Shelby Howard (ORP) Bryan Clauson (Daytona-2)
Wheeler Boys (Montreal)
Andrew Ranger (Montreal)
Scott Steckly (Montreal)
Top-10 Finish Laps Led
Bryan Clauson (Daytona) Dario Franchitti (Texas)
Dario Franchitti (Las Vegas) Dwayne Leik (Talladega)
Cale Gale (Nashville) Sam Hornish Jr. (Charlotte)
Steven Wallace (Mexico City) Joey Logano (Nashville)
Chase Miller (Darlington)
Joey Logano (Dover)
Colin Braun (ORP)
Josh Wise (ORP)

The Pole Winner/Race Winner
• The Coors Light Pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying) finishing position:
First 4
2nd-5th 5
6th-10th 2
11th-30th 6
31st or beyond 6
• The lap-leader performance of the pole winner (or driver that started first in cases of no qualifying):
Led First Lap 12
Led at All 18
Led Most Laps 4
• The race winner’s starting positions:
Pole 5
2nd-5th 8
6th-10th 5
11th-30th 4
31st or beyond 1
• The lap-leader performance-of-the-race winner:
Led First Lap 6
Led Most Laps 14
Led Mid-Race Lap 8
Led With 10 to Go 18
Led With One to Go 23
Note: Mid-Race lap is as scheduled regardless of shortened or extended race length.

Laps Led• 55 drivers have led at least one lap this season.
• Kyle Busch has led 1,237 laps in 2008 – more than any other driver.
• Drivers that led the most laps:
Kyle Busch (nine)
Tony Stewart (four)
Clint Bowyer (two)
Denny Hamlin (two)
Carl Edwards (two)
Mark Martin (one)
Scott Pruett (one)
Brad Keselowski (one)
Marcus Ambrose (one)

Rookie Performance
• One rookie finished in the top 10 at Daytona: Bryan Clauson (sixth). It was also his career-first top- 10 finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
• Dario Franchitti finished sixth at Las Vegas, posting his first career NASCAR Nationwide top 10.
• Times as the highest-finishing rookie:
Dario Franchitti (seven)
Cale Gale (four)
Bryan Clauson (four)
Landon Cassill (four)
Patrick Carpentier (two)
Chase Miller (two)

Owner Highlights
• All three regular Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have won this season and all three have won at least one race in the No. 20 Toyota. Joey Logano also won in the 20, giving the team four different winners.
• Though Clint Bowyer leads the driver point standings by 183, the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 leads the owner point standings by 190 points over the No. 2 of Richard Childress Racing. The 20 has posted nine victories and 14 top-10 finishes.

Penalties
• There have been 330 on-track penalties issued this season.
• Penalty Recap:
Pitting Before Pit Road is Open 133
Too Fast Entering Pit Road 43
Too Fast Exiting Pit Road 22
Others 132

Manufacturer
• Toyota leads in the manufacturers’ point standings with 170 points. Chevrolet is in second with 140. Ford has 115 points while Dodge has 81.
• Toyota has 15 victories, Chevrolet five and Ford three.

Notebook
• Morgan Shepherd finished on the lead lap at Talladega, his first time in a NASCAR Nationwide race since Rockingham on Oct. 23, 1999. His last lead-lap finish in any of the three major NASCAR series was in the season-opener for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona on Feb. 16, 2001.
• Colin Braun won the pole at Mexico City in his third series start; Joey Logano won the pole at Nashville – his second series start.
• Mark Green qualified fourth at Richmond – his best start since he rolled off fifth at Rockingham in October 1998.
• Steve Wallace and David Stremme finished fifth and sixth, respectively, at Richmond – the first time two Rusty Wallace Racing drivers have posted top-10s in the same race. They repeated the performance at Darlington the following week.
• Kevin Lepage led one lap at Dover – the first laps he has led since September 2002, also at Dover.
• The 50 cars entered at Chicago was the second-largest contingent in 2008, trailing 53 at Daytona.

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NASCAR meets weather halfway: Nationwide drivers can race in the wet but not Sprint Cup

Last Saturday was a unique day for NASCAR — one that some fans had been waiting for and wondering about for quite a long time. It was the day that the rains came — and the racing did not stop.

After the Nationwide Series race last week in Montreal, the experiment of racing in the rain, the advisability of staging such an experiment and the potential for holding more NASCAR races in the rain were subjects of intense debate.

With rain in the forecast for this weekend’s NASCAR races at the Watkins Glen road course in the Finger Lakes region of New York, the debate could reoccur.

The rains came early in the Nationwide race last weekend, and they came in near biblical proportions. Some places at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve quickly were flooded to a depth of a couple of inches.

The cars were herded into pit lane, and precedent disappeared.

Out came grooved tires that were several years old and on went windshield wipers and other rain gear.

The cars were sent back out, and for more than 30 laps, they raced in constant rain. When the rain turned into a deluge and track flooding was deemed dangerous, the race ended.

Many career NASCAR drivers found the experience enjoyable and reveled in its history-making nature.

“I kind of was looking forward to this, because I’ve never raced in the rain,” Greg Biffle said. “It was a lot of fun. It got a little hairy there when it started raining so hard. The car would hydroplane bad down the front stretch — and I mean a 140 or 150 mph hydroplane is not very safe.

“It made it hard to see there at the end. It was raining so hard and everything was getting so wet. So the car started to fill with water, and we were going to start having electrical problems — well not us — but probably everybody soon. But it was fun. It was a lot of fun. I’m glad I made history today.”

Some were not crazy about the rain. Young driver Joey Logano, who had a good run going until getting involved in a wreck late in the race, was one of those.

“I just don’t understand why we go past halfway in the rain,” Logano said. “I think if you’re halfway, you’ve got to stop it. And we went until there were 26 laps to go. It’s pouring rain, and we’re racing.”

The big question centered on the tires: Would the grooved Goodyears get the job done?

Most drivers agreed that they did. It was the windshield wipers and defogging systems that failed.

“Where the windshield wiper was, I couldn’t see out the right side of the car,” Patrick Carpentier said. “I noticed that the windshield would fog up more where the windshield wiper was. So sometimes I would shut it off (the windshield wiper) in the fast straightaways because the wind was too strong for the wiper to come back down. Then I would turn it back on in the low-speed corners just to clean it up and to keep the fog away. I think some of the guys that didn’t have a windshield wiper got caught by that. The thing that made me laugh is when I saw Carl Edwards on the big screen squeegeeing out of the window. I thought that was the highlight of the race.”

Those who predicted that racing in the rain would be NASCAR Armageddon were pleasantly surprised. Until the track became completely undriveable, the quality of racing was good. Even the career ovalists showed surprising skills.

Jimmie Johnson, the Sprint Cup defending points champion, watched the race on television and liked what he saw. He said that in his experience, competing in wet conditions can bring out the best in drivers.

“That’s usually where I do my best work, at night and in the rain in the Rolex (series) races,” said Johnson, a veteran of the Daytona 24-hour race.

As of Wednesday, forecasters were saying that there was a 50 percent chance of rain for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen and a 40 percent chance for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race.

Could more history be written this weekend?

Not in the Sprint Cup series. NASCAR officials have torpedoed the chances for that.

NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter on Wednesday laid out the guidelines for racing on wet pavement.

“We’ll likely continue to use rain tires in Nationwide Series road course races, but not in Sprint Cup,” Hunter said. “We have the flexibility to reschedule postponed Cup races to Monday, or even Tuesday, something we can’t do with our other national series.”

That may disappoint some Sprint Cup drivers.

“I enjoyed watching it, a lot like everyone did,” Johnson said this week. “But I love racing on the dirt and the Grand Am racing I’ve done, the wet has been a lot of fun.”

Though many Canadian fans sat in the rain to watch last week, Johnson wasn’t sure that other fans would — especially at a Sprint Cup race.

“You want to put on a quality show, and I’m not sure our cars were at speed and easy enough to drive to really put on a quality show,” he said. “I spoke to Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards and those guys, and they said they had an absolute blast. But I don’t think they put on a show for the fans. If you’re spending money to come and sit in the grandstands and watch a race, you want to see a competitive race and not a rain race where you have guys just tiptoeing around.”

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