JGR accepts penalties given to Hamlin, Busch, apologizes

NASCAR warned its teams it was serious about stamping out a culture of cheating that stretched back to its roots and let illegitimate race winners often walk away unscathed with nothing worse than a fine or a few docked points for the team. “This change in our build process was not properly vetted within our organization and we recognize it is against NASCAR’s rules,” said Wally Brown, director of competition for Joe Gibbs Racing. “It’s critical that we inspect at the level that we do and it’s critical that we react when we see something that wasn’t agreed on on the Next Gen concept.” Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson said the manufacturer stood by NASCAR’s decision. “As we’ve stated throughout the Next Gen process, we applaud NASCAR’s hyper-vigilance when it comes to policing the rules on this new race car,” Wilson said. “We have been in close communication with Joe Gibbs Racing and they have acknowledged that the tape added to the front facias of the #11 and the #18 was not permissible by NASCAR’s rules.” NASCAR’s inspection team usually tears down the first- and second-place cars at the track, and third- through fifth-place cars are also inspected.