Roush claims 'intellectual espionage'

Jack Roush's feud with Toyota is escalating over allegations of "intellectual espionage" — a case many say is much ado about nothing.

Roush has accused an unidentified Toyota team of stealing a swaybar created specifically for Roush Fenway Racing from one of RFR's teams at last fall's race at Dover, Del. And he wants NASCAR to make sure the team won't use information gained "by their ill-gotten means."

"What's he doing with stuff just laying around the garage area?" four-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon joked Friday. "If that was a proprietary piece, I'd think that you'd have some tighter grips on it. I think the whole thing is hilarious."

But Roush isn't laughing, calling the "theft" of the swaybar "intellectual espionage." He even said he was tempted to get a search warrant to claim the part and a restraining order to prevent the team from using any information gleaned from it.

Perhaps he and Michael Waltrip should talk.

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.

Former Roush employee Lee White, now a senior vice president and general manager for Toyota Racing Development, said Friday it's not an issue for the manufacturer, but rather one between Roush's team and the unidentified Toyota team.

Roush said the team sandblasted the custom paint off the swaybar and tried to have the vendor that created it for RFR duplicate the ends that make it fit.

Roush enlisted the help of NASCAR, and that hasn't been satisfying, either.

"It's not the first time that somebody's gone home with a mistaken part," John Darby, NASCAR's Sprint Cup director, said during practice at Martinsville Speedway.

"It's not a PIN number to somebody's bank account. It's a swaybar, a very simple, very non-smart kind of a part, and I don't know why it's amplified to where it has."

The problem, according to Roush, is the team acquired the part last fall and didn't admit to having it or agree to return it until confronted in January.

The theft allegation only became public this week, but Roush initially levied it three weeks ago in response to White's claim that Carl Edwards' team intentionally removed the cover from its oil tank to gain an aerodynamic advantage in the Roush car's win in Las Vegas.

Edwards was docked 100 driver points, plus 10 bonus points. His crew chief, Bob Osbourne, was fined $100,000 and suspended, and Roush was docked 100 owner points.

In a statement Friday, White did acknowledge that TRD got another team's valve spring in Fontana, Calif.

"Following teardown on Monday afternoon a valve spring that was not ours ended up at TRD's California location," he said. "However, in less than 24 hours, that part was returned to the appropriate party. We made NASCAR aware of that incident, and they indicated it was not an issue."

TRD has insisted, however, that is was unaware of the swaybar incident until this week.

Roush, who denied the team did anything to make the oil tank lid come off, said he's never stolen anything from another team in 22 years of racing, and he's disappointed that NASCAR hasn't chosen to take action.

"It's real easy for NASCAR to bring the rule book out and deal with what happens if a part is the wrong dimension or if it doesn't fit a template," he said. "But they don't have a rule as it relates to theft, and maybe they should have. I'm not sure."

With all the traveling teams do, all their equipment and the ease with which things get mixed up, Darby said it's no big deal.

"Our garage is open. Somebody can walk up to anybody's pit stall and look and see and photograph and measure and smell and touch any part they want to in the garage, and we've always been that way," he said. "These are just stock cars and stock car parts."

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Associated Press Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer in Charlotte contributed to this report.

Stewart cheers Goodyear at Bristol

It took just one quick practice session for Tony Stewart to assess the tires Goodyear brought to Bristol Motor Speedway.

"I thought it was good," Stewart said after Friday's rain-shortened practice.

It was the first positive remark Stewart has had about tires since his blistering rant against Goodyear following Sunday's race in Atlanta. The two-time series champion hasn't softened his stance, continuing to rail against the tire choice every day since his second-place finish.

But he's happy with the tire compound at Bristol, where he had no issues navigating the 0.533-mile bullring.

"Anytime that you can take your car and go from the top to the bottom of the track and back, you obviously have the grip you need to go where you want to go," he said. "Having that flexibility is what we're all looking for."

That Stewart had something kind to say about the company he assailed surprised Goodyear officials, who would have liked to have heard it directly from the driver.

"It would have been nice if he could have come over here and told us that," said Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales.

Tensions were still high Friday between Stewart and Goodyear, but the driver eventually met with Goodyear general manager Stu Grant for an amicable discussion.

"It was a good meeting, but at the end of the day, it's up to Goodyear to make it right," Stewart said. "If having this meeting helps to make things better down the road, then this meeting was a success."

Grant was also pleased with the meeting.

"It was constructive. It was extremely worthwhile to sit down and have a discussion with him," Grant said. "Tony was able to express his concerns and I listened to his concerns. I was able to explain our process, and we both talked about how moving forward, we can improve the process of developing tires."

The flap started when Stewart — like many drivers in Sunday's race — was unhappy that the hard compound Goodyear selected for Atlanta lacked the grip needed to race around the abrasive surface.

But that shouldn't be an issue at Bristol, where the concrete surface is more forgiving and the speeds are much slower than most of the tracks NASCAR races on. And with 30-degree banking, the lateral loads that Goodyear has apparently struggled with this season are not as severe.

Stucker is hopeful a successful race Sunday can give Goodyear a respite from the scrutiny it has been under all week.

"We like it when nobody talks about tires at all," he said. "Typically, if tires aren't an issue, nobody mentions it. And when somebody does have an issue and brings it up, it becomes a big story."

And it still was a story in Bristol, where even though drivers are comfortable with the current tire, they still want Goodyear to take a hard look at the problems that plagued Atlanta.

"It wasn't Goodyear's finest outing. There's no question," Jeff Burton said.

But drivers stopped short of calling for competition for Goodyear, which as the exclusive tire provider in NASCAR, can't be challenged by another company during the life of its contract that runs through 2012.

NASCAR is adamantly against more than one tire company participating in the sport because of the safety concerns that can arise if one manufacturer takes shortcuts in an effort to produce a faster tire that teams will select. NASCAR has not had a "tire war" since 1994, when Hoosier challenged Goodyear for one season.

"I have lived through the tire war ... we saw more failures because the manufacturers were forced to put more emphasis on making the cars drive a certain way," Burton said. "I drove on Hoosiers. By no means is it my opinion that we would make Goodyear step up and do a better job if we had two manufacturers here.

"I'm in complete opposition of that."

The Atlanta debacle wasn't the only issue Goodyear is facing. The manufacturer is still searching for a suitable tire to bring to Darlington, where speeds in a two-day test earlier this week inched toward 200 mph.

As with Atlanta, when Goodyear elected for durability over grip, the tires will again have to be hard enough to withstand the loads. To make sure the company gets it right, they will again bring Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet), Greg Biffle (Ford) and Ryan Newman (Dodge) back to the track to test different models.

"It's extremely fast — too fast for that size of a race track," Biffle said. "It's just astronomically fast. You just won't be able to race at that speed and, on top of that, the tire wouldn't survive that kind of loading.

"Goodyear is going back to the drawing board."

That's how NASCAR wants the tire company to react, and prefers Goodyear errs on the side of safety.

"The direction is to not have a safety issue with the tires," said Robin Pemberton, director of competition for NASCAR. "That's the number one deal. Bar none."

Jarrett backs Stewart's tire complaints

Dale Jarrett on Tuesday called on Goodyear to listen carefully to Tony Stewart's complaints about the tires the company has produced this season.

Although some drivers believe Stewart went overboard in his criticism of Goodyear following Sunday's race in Atlanta, Jarrett said the manufacturer needs to start constructing a better tire for Sprint Cup racing.

"I have no problem with what Tony Stewart said. I'm a huge supporter of Goodyear and all that they have done over the years, but somebody needs to wake up right now and listen to these guys," said Jarrett, the former series champion who is retiring following Sunday's race in Bristol, Tenn.

"We're talking about race drivers that have a huge amount of talent and very seldom complain about things like that."

Stewart was livid with Goodyear all last weekend, when he complained about a lack of grip on the hard tires the company sent to Atlanta. Following his second-place finish, the two-time series champion said Goodyear gave him "the most pathetic racing tire I've ever been on in my professional career."

Goodyear has staunchly defended its product. But Tuesday, Texas Motor Speedway officials said Goodyear will not bring the Atlanta tire to its track for next month's race.

Atlanta and Texas are essentially sister tracks with identical layouts and the same 24 degree banking in the corners.

Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were among the many drivers to echo Stewart's complaints after the Atlanta race, but a handful of drivers on Monday decided Stewart went too far.

"I think he went a little overboard. He kind of made it personal," Gordon, the four-time series champion, said. "We were all pretty out of control out there. I don't disagree with him as far as the comfort level in the situation we were in.

"But we have to look at all sides of this and try to give the folks that are doing their jobs the ability and constructive criticism to try to do it better."

Goodyear said in a statement Monday it was pleased it had no safety issues because of the hard compound it brought to combat Atlanta's abrasive surface. Still, the company promised to re-evaluate before returning to Atlanta in October.

"Even though both Goodyear and NASCAR were satisfied with the tire's performance in Atlanta, if the drivers are not happy, then Goodyear's not happy," the company said.

That sent Stewart on a second rant Monday evening on his national radio show.

"If they truly believe that they were satisfied with the way the race went ... I'm more disappointed than ever," Stewart said on Sirius Satellite Radio. "And I can't believe that NASCAR, at the end of the day, is truly, honestly, happy with the results."

As the exclusive tire provider of NASCAR, Goodyear is not subjected to competition from other manufacturers. And NASCAR can't allow other companies to enter the sport for risk of a "tire war" in which manufacturers are putting safety at risk while trying to develop a faster tire that teams will select.

On Tuesday, Jarrett said he has gone to NASCAR before to urge the sanctioning body to mandate Goodyear develop separate tires for the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. In using the same tire, the rubber must be strong enough to withstand a significant amount of downforce in the Nationwide cars.

The Cup cars have roughly 400 lbs. less downforce, and don't need such a hard tire, Jarrett said.

"We can't race the same tire on the Nationwide cars that is going to be any good for the Cup cars. That's just plain and simple," Jarrett said. "You're not going to be able to put on a good show. These guys cannot drive these cars to the point of putting on a good race for the fans, which is what our sport was built on.

"So somebody is going to have to swallow their pride right now, and we are going to have to have two separate tires done there."

Kyle Busch, the current Cup and Truck Series points leader and winner of both series' races in Atlanta, also disliked the tires and said Tuesday he wants Goodyear to make different sets for the three different series.

"You have to build a tire that's different for all three vehicles, or at least different for the Nationwide from the Cup car in order to be able to make everything work out right," Busch said. "At Atlanta, the tire was too hard for all three vehicles."

Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage is also lobbying NASCAR for a test at his track before its April 6 race, in which Goodyear will use not the Atlanta tires but essentially the same compound it used last season.

"Failing that, we would encourage NASCAR to add practice time to the race weekend schedule to give teams a bit more time to get comfortable with this new car and tire combination," Gossage said. "We hope after the Atlanta race that they will see the wisdom behind our suggestion."

Hendrick team hits Vegas track safety

Team owner Rick Hendrick thinks NASCAR should not return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway until the retaining wall Jeff Gordon slammed into is improved.

Special barriers are located in the outside walls at Las Vegas. But the track did not install them along the inside wall, which the four-time NASCAR champion hit in the closing laps Sunday. The force was so violent Gordon's entire transmission was ripped from under the hood.

"If the teams are asked to spend $8 million a piece for a car that is a little bit safer, then we need to fix the damn walls at the track," Hendrick told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "That ought to be priority No. 1, and if the tracks don't have the walls, then we shouldn't race there."

Track officials said owner Bruton Smith was assessing the walls and anticipated SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers installed along the inside before the Truck Series race there in September.

"We would not do anything to the walls without first going to NASCAR, but Bruton has said to me we will take immediate action here before we have another NASCAR event," track president Chris Powell told the AP.

Gordon's accident happened shortly after a restart with five laps to go when Gordon made contact with Matt Kenseth, sending both cars into a spin. Gordon's car smacked the inside wall.

Gordon said the accident was the "hardest I've ever hit" and was highly critical of the lack of SAFER barriers. He also was bothered that the angle of impact was nearly head-on because the part of the wall he hit curved inward as an access point for safety vehicles.

After being checked in the care center, Gordon delivered an on-air message to the track owner.

"Bruton, you need a soft wall and to change the wall back there on the back straightaway," he said. "It was a really, really hard hit. It took me awhile to be able to catch my breath and to get out.

"I couldn't have hit the wall at a worse angle. It really tore the thing up. I'm really disappointed right now in this speedway for not having a soft wall back there. And even being able to get to that part of the wall shouldn't happen."

SAFER barriers were invented during a safety overhaul that resulted from the 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt. The walls were developed by Dr. Dean Sicking at the University of Nebraska and are currently installed in some form at every track used by NASCAR's top series.

Powell said speedway officials worked closely with NASCAR when the original walls were installed, and would do the same this time.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the sanctioning body will meet with Sicking and the University of Nebraska.

"We obviously will take a close look with them, get with the track and take a look at it and go from there," Poston said.

Hendrick called the absence of the SAFER barriers on the inside wall "most likely an oversight."

"I don't worry about Bruton fixing his stuff," he said. "He'll get this fixed."

Hendrick, NASCAR's most powerful owner, is not known for being outspoken. He said Gordon told him he escaped serious injury only because of the safety equipment provided by Hendrick Motorsports.

"These guys are star athletes," Hendrick said. "They make or break the sport and we can't be putting them in danger."

Gordon was in a crash at Pocono in 2006 that until Las Vegas he considered the hardest of his career. Hendrick said the Pocono crash "was as bad as it gets" and "it nearly brought me to my knees" when Gordon lost his brakes and went straight into the wall at nearly 200 mph.

Pocono had a SAFER barrier where Gordon hit, and the impact tore a huge chunk of the foam from the wall. Other than feeling a "little fuzzy," Gordon was unscathed and credited his safety equipment.

He did the same following Sunday's wreck.

"I've got an awesome team ... because they build a safe race car," he said. "I'll tell you what: Several years ago those types of hits, you wouldn't be standing here right now."

Vickers still sweats NASCAR qualifying

Brian Vickers is 2-for-2 in qualifying this season and 11th in the standings, yet he still can't relax on qualifying day.

"It's definitely still agonizing," Vickers said Friday before attempting to qualify at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Until you're locked in, it really doesn't matter where you are in the points. Fridays are still really tough for us."

Although he qualified 23rd for Sunday's race, it's not going to get any easier for Vickers for at least another two weeks.

A complicated qualifying system awards a spot in the field for the first five races of the season to cars ranked in the top 35 in points last year. Vickers didn't make that cut — he was 38th last season — and must qualify his way into the first five races.

Despite this strong start to his second season with Red Bull Racing, it can all crumble for Vickers with one poor qualifying run. It weighs on his mind when he arrives at the race track each week, but Vickers said he tries not to let it affect his performance.

"You have to try to stay focused. You can't get distracted by that, as hard as it is to not be distracted by it," he said.

It's a long way from where Vickers was at the start of his NASCAR career, when he had a cushy job with Hendrick Motorsports. He had few worries during three Cup seasons, when he made every race while notching one win and 23 top 10 finishes.

But he was overshadowed by his superstar teammates at Hendrick, which played a part in his risky decision to leave the team at the end of the 2006 season. With upstart Red Bull looking for a marquee driver to build its program around, Vickers jumped at the opportunity to be the star.

He never imagined how difficult it would be.

Vickers and teammate A.J. Allmendinger were just two of about 10 drivers who had to fight their way into every race last season. The year got off to a horrible start when both Red Bull drivers missed the Daytona 500, and Vickers failed to qualify for five of the first nine.

It mired him in a hole he never could climb out of, even after strong runs at California and Charlotte proved his Toyota could run up front. He made just 23 of the 36 events last year, and sitting at home on race day was brutal on the 24-year-old.

"It definitely eats away at you," he said. "When you're behind the wheel and you miss a race, you have to question whether you did everything that you could."

With two strong runs so far this season, Vickers has had little to question.

He raced his way into the season-opening Daytona 500, overcoming an early spin that could have knocked him out of contention. A tire issue during the race could have led to a disastrous finish, but the team rallied for Vickers' 12th place finish.

Qualifying was rained out last week in California, but Vickers made the race based on his spot in the standings leaving Daytona. He then finished 11th in the event.

Those kind of runs will make the top 35 rule incidental, Red Bull general manager Jay Frye said.

"What I try to instill is that if we just take care of business, then the top 35 will take care of itself," Frye said. "If we do what we're supposed to — come to the track each Friday with a workman like attitude, take care of business — then it's a non-issue. But this top 35 thing can create such a frenzy that it starts affecting everything, and we don't want the goal for our company to simply be making the top 35."

Vickers' team has the luxury of buying into Frye's philosophy. But Allmendinger has failed to qualify for any of the first three races this season and is in the same rut that plagued last year's rookie campaign. Allmendinger made 17 of 36 races last year and finished 43rd in the standings.

"We've just got to fight our way out of it," Allmendinger said Friday before a frustrating first practice session.

The frustrations on Allmendinger's team make it difficult for Red Bull to embrace Vickers' start.

"It's definitely tough," Vickers said. "On one hand, the team is excited because we're 11th in points. But on the other hand, AJ hasn't been in a race yet. Everybody is pretty bummed about that."

But Vickers is confident that Frye, who was hired in January to run the team, can get Red Bull on the right track.

"We were trying to reinvent the wheel, and we didn't have the wheel rolling yet," Vickers said. "He has brought a lot of stability to the whole organization. The biggest thing is he has just recognized that we need to get back to basics.

"We just need to build a solid team. We need to go run at least what they're running to be competitive with them before we try to run something better. That wasn't the philosophy last year."