NASCAR finds magnets under pedals on 2 Gibbs cars

The two Joe Gibbs Racing cars that have dominated the Nationwide Series this season likely will face stiff NASCAR sanctions after team members were caught deliberately trying to mask the horsepower in their powerful engines.

NASCAR inspectors found magnets under the gas pedals of the No. 18 and No. 20 Toyota's when the cars were sent to the chassis dyno following Saturday's race at Michigan International Speedway. Tony Stewart finished third in the No. 20 in his final Nationwide race for JGR, and Joey Logano was seventh in the No. 18.

The two cars have combined to win 14 of Toyota's 15 victories in 25 Nationwide races this season. To temper the domination, NASCAR last month ordered all Toyota teams to cut about 15 horsepower in their motors.

NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said the magnets were a quarter-inch thick and their placement was an attempt to hide how much horsepower the Gibbs motors still have even after the rule change.

"The intention was to manipulate the numbers that we get when we get our information and data off the dyno," Pemberton said.

Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs said he and his father, owner Joe Gibbs, had no prior knowledge of their crew members intent and apologized to NASCAR and Toyota.

"That was a really poor, foolish decision on the part of our key guys," J.D. Gibbs said. "A couple guys chose to make a decision there that really impacts all of us."

Gibbs said he wasn't sure the crews tried to manipulate the dyno numbers. The JGR teams, behind esteemed engine builder Mark Cronquist, are thought to have some of the strongest motors in the industry.

"I know they were probably frustrated from the standpoint that wanting to show that, 'Hey, we have less horsepower than ever before' and they wanted to make it look like we're handicapped even more than we actually were," Gibbs said. "I understand that, but that's not an excuse.

"The engine shop, that's kind of a badge of honor. You win that engine dyno, good for you. That's kind of how we felt in the past few years, and Mark Cronquist and those guys really feel like they want to win that thing.

"The way I look at it, to come back after you've been chopped, to come back and win it again, that's awesome," Gibbs noted. "That's a great story. That wasn't able to be told."

Pemberton said NASCAR will meet this week to decide how JGR will be punished.

"I anticipate that we haven't seen the end of it yet," Pemberton said.

But J.D. Gibbs vowed the team will address the incident in-house.

"(We'll) figure out exactly what happened and those that were responsible," Gibbs said. "There's going to be punishment for that. That's just part of life. You can't do that."

Joe Gibbs echoed his son's thoughts in a sharply worded statement.

"If this alleged incident proves true, it goes against everything we stand for as an organization," the former Washington Redskins coach said. "We will take full responsibility and accept any penalties NASCAR levies against us."

Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, said the company is grateful that the team stepped up and took responsibility and made it clear Toyota was not involved.

"I was surprised to see what was happening, and astonished and frankly incredulous," White said. "I couldn't believe it was happening because it's clearly defined in the entry forms that you don't do this sort of thing. But I'm sure Joe and J.D. will take care of that internally and, whatever fans think, they're going to think. We're just going to keep working on our stuff."

Pat Suhy, GM Racing group manager for NASCAR, said the actions by the Gibbs team raise more questions that stretch all the way to Toyota. The Japanese automaker is in its second season in NASCAR's top two series.

"It's not something that you like to hear about and you have to just question every chassis dyno that's ever been run on every Toyota," Suhy said. "I don't know is if it's a Toyota problem, if it's a Joe Gibbs thing, how widespread is it and how long has it been going on.

"It's disappointing to hear that anybody, whether it's a manufacturer or a team or an individual on a team would go to any length to do that. It's bad for the entire garage, I think."

Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush-Fenway Racing, which fields Fords in the Nationwide Series, called the Gibbs team's actions "extremely detrimental" to the sport and was confident NASCAR will address it.

"NASCAR will figure out what they should," Roush said. "If they're going to make decisions based on parity, after they've given (Toyota) what they've given them with regard to parameters on their engine, based on flawed data that a team or the manufacturer, one of the other, had kited or shaved, that certainly is detrimental to my interests."

Massa and Ferrari maintain F1 title belief

A late engine problem cost Felipe Massa the Hungarian Grand Prix and another chance to lead Formula One's overall standings. What the Ferrari driver — and his team — didn't lose was confidence.

Massa was cruising toward his fourth win of the season Sunday, after a bold overtaking move at the start, only for his engine to give out three laps from the checkered flag. That allowed McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen to earn his first Formula One victory.

Ferrari's performance had come under scrutiny following a questionable run of results, but Massa's performance — and Kimi Raikkonen's third-place finish — will help subdue any doubts.

"We still need to push very hard in the development of the car and the reliability. But even in a worse case like this, we're still in the championship, completely," the 27-year-old Massa said. "We're still in the fight. We'll be pushing very hard over the break."

Massa's disappointment was all the greater after his superb start, when he powered around Kovalainen from third before beating pole sitter Lewis Hamilton in a straight race around the second corner for the lead.

After a tire puncture dropped Hamilton back into 10th place, Massa built a 15-second lead over Kovalainen.

Needing only to parade home for his ninth career victory, things blew up for Massa.

"We are very sad for Felipe because he did, in my view, the best race of his career today," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said. "It was fantastic in the way he attacked and the way he managed the race. So we are very disappointed for that."

Massa emerged from the cockpit of his stalled car, hands over his helmet in disbelief as he watched.

"I think I'm still growing a lot and learning race to race, and that can help for the championship — the confidence — and that's the most important thing," Massa said. "I think for the moment everything is completely open, we have three cars in a very small gap in terms of points."

Hamilton held a 17-point advantage over Raikkonen with two races to go last season, and still managed to lose the title by one point to the Finn.

Domenicali said Massa would have no problem getting over Sunday's race.

"He's very strong. For sure, this kind of race, if you're able — mentally — to manage after the disappointment you have, you will only get stronger," he said. "And this is what we're going to do together, because that is the way we are going to approach the next race in Valencia."

Defending F1 champion Raikkonen had his best result since a runner-up finish at the French GP in June but was still unhappy with his car's performance, which excelled in open road but got bogged down in traffic too often.

"When the track is clear we showed that we have the speed. When there is traffic, we can't take advantage," Domenicali said.

Raikkonen, who set the race's fastest lap at 1 minute, 21.195 seconds, couldn't challenge Toyota's Timo Glock for second down the stretch because of a problem with the rear of his car.

"It was a disappointing weekend for me but at least I managed to come away with a decent result," said Raikkonen, who trails Hamilton by five points in the championship fight. "We had good speed in the race and without the mistake in qualifying it would be better."

Domenicali said it was unacceptable that both cars malfunctioned, especially with a street circuit race coming up at the European GP on Aug. 24.

"We cannot accept these kinds of problems. We are paying too much of a price for this," Domenicali said. "Qualifying is crucial and the difference today was that on one side (Massa) we are able to jump in front and race like we were able to do and on the other hand (Raikkonen), in the middle of the field, it was nearly impossible to do something."

Darlington regains Southern 500 name

The Southern 500 is back at Darlington Raceway.

Track president Chris Browning said Wednesday the historic name will return to Darlington for next May's Sprint Cup race, restoring at least part of more than a half-century of tradition to the old country track.

"The timing really is good with us celebrating our 60th year of racing next year," Browning said. "It just seemed to make sense."

The Southern 500 was a shaky startup venture when it was first run on Sept. 4, 1950. But over the next five-plus decades, it became a Labor Day staple for NASCAR drivers, fans and their families to spend the final summer holiday in South Carolina's steamy Pee Dee region.

After 2003, that date was given to California Speedway with its larger layout and population center.

"Although it's not on Labor Day, it is a 500-mile race at Darlington," Browning said. "And that's another way of our continuing to tie back into our history and our tradition."

Another Southern 500 was run in 2004, but in November. Darlington has held just one Sprint Cup weekend since 2005, each sponsored by the Carolina Dodge Dealers Association.

When the sponsorship agreement ran out this spring — and with the track's once hobbled future on the rise — Browning thought it was time to bring back the old name.

Browning said he's in talks with potential title sponsors for next year's race, and one told him the return of the former race name was an important selling point.

Next season, Darlington will celebrate its 60th year since Harold Brasington carved the misshapen superspeedway out of farmland.

Browning came to Darlington in 2004 after the track he previously led, nearby North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham, had its race dates taken away. It is no longer part of the NASCAR schedule.

Darlington seemed like the next old, crumbling Southern domino to fall in the race to open sparkling new superspeedways with seating capacities far bigger than the track "Too Tough To Tame."

However, Darlington modernized and expanded, adding lights and nearly 4,000 seats. It most recently completed $10 million in improvements that included the first repaving in 13 years and a massive new infield entrance tunnel.

The track also struck gold with its Mother's Day weekend date, which has sold out all four times.

"When I think of Darlington and the history of the track, the Southern 500 is what comes to mind," said driver Jeff Gordon, who has won five Southern 500s and seven times total at Darlington. "I look forward to the opportunity of possibly winning a sixth."

Terry Labonte won the final Labor Day weekend Southern 500 in 2003.

Former racer and current TV analyst Darrell Waltrip, whose last NASCAR victory was the 1992 Southern 500, said Darlington's appeal comes in taming the oddly shaped layout and matching accomplishments with some of the sport's greatest names.

"It's anything but routine racing," he said.

Yeley out, Coleman in at Hall of Fame Racing

Twenty-year-old Brad Coleman will replace J.J. Yeley in the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota beginning at the Aug. 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan International Speedway.

Yeley, already set to sit out this Sunday's Cup race at Watkins Glen in favor of road racing specialist P.J. Jones, was released by the team on Wednesday.

The Michigan race will be the Cup debut for Coleman, who has made 42 Nationwide Series starts and is currently 16th in the season points with one top-10, driving for Baker Curb Racing. A year ago, Coleman drove part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing and had three top-fives, including a runner-up finish at Kentucky, and five top-10s in 15 races.

"I really appreciate Jeff Moorad and Tom (Garfinkel, co-owners of Hall of Fame Racing) for giving me this opportunity," Coleman said. "I have really enjoyed my time testing with the people on the team and I'm looking forward to having a successful weekend at Michigan in the DLP HDTV Toyota and helping Hall of Fame Racing finish out the season as strong as possible."

Yeley, 31, spent the past two Cup seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing before moving to Hall of Fame Racing this year. In 95 career starts, the former U.S. Auto Club short track star has just seven top-10 finishes, one this season. He is 36th in the 2008 points.

"J.J. is a talented race car driver and a great person and this was a difficult decision to make," Garfinkel said. "We all share responsibility that our performance hasn't been what it needs to be, but we concluded it was time to make a change. This is a performance-based industry and we need to perform better. We're confident J.J. will be successful in this sport in whatever his next challenge is."

McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen wins Hungarian GP

McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen won his first Formula One race Sunday after an engine problem forced Felipe Massa out of the Hungarian Grand Prix with three laps to go.

Massa overtook Kovalainen and pole sitter Lewis Hamilton at the start and was heading for his fourth win of the season after Hamilton dropped out of contention with a tire puncture. But the Brazilian's Ferrari engine overheated toward the end and Kovalainen took an 11-second victory over Timo Glock of Toyota.

"Of course I feel a little bit sorry for Felipe. I know how he feels with what happened to him today; I've had similar moments to him this year," said Kovalainen, who became the 100th driver to win a Formula One race.

Kovalainen — greeted by chants of "Heikki" from the large Finnish contingent in the stands — had narrowed Massa's lead to under six seconds before the Brazilian's engine blew up and ruined his chance of taking the lead in F1's standings for the second time this season.

"I just tried to put pressure on Massa hoping something would happen," Kovalainen said. "It worked out for me. I'm very, very glad to secure the victory."

Massa would have taken a three-point lead in the overall standings with a win, but instead slipped to eight behind Hamilton.

"It happened completely without warning, without giving the slightest indication," he said. "I am very frustrated at the moment because we had a great car and we had done everything perfectly until a few kilometers from the finish."

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen recovered from qualifying sixth to finish third ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and give the Italian team some needed points.

"We had the speed in the race. (It's qualifying) where we must sort it out," said Raikkonen, the defending world champion. "We need to get something sorted. My car is fast and we need to just get in the front to use it."

Hamilton, who won from pole here last year, came in fifth for McLaren and stretched his lead over Raikkonen in the overall standings to five points. McLaren overtook BMW Sauber to sit second in the constructors' standings — 11 points behind Ferrari.

Kovalainen's first win in his 28 starts allowed Hamilton, coming off two dramatic victories at the British and German GPs, to stay atop F1's standings — and eight points ahead of Massa, whose confident start left the McLaren drivers stranded.

Kovalainen said this week that he wouldn't help Hamilton even with his British teammate leading the title challenge, and that showed in his limp start that allowed Massa to pass easily on the outside.

Massa and Hamilton raced side-by-side into the first turn — Massa even locking up his brakes at one point — before the Brazilian stuck to his position to pull ahead and nudge out Hamilton around the second corner.

The two were out front on their own. Massa and Hamilton pitted within a lap of each other with Massa enjoying a three-second edge after the first round of stops at the 113-degree track.

Massa's lead was around three seconds as he edged Hamilton over the final two sectors of the twisting circuit before Hamilton's puncture left the race Massa's to lose. Hamilton had most of the 2.722-mile circuit to navigate before a tire change and re-emerged 10th.

"I feel I could have had a go at passing him, but the damaged tire halted my progress," Hamilton said. "I don't yet know what happened. But at least I scored four points and maintained my lead in the championship, so this result is not too bad for me."

Kovalainen, who will partner with Hamilton again in 2009, moved to within 7.5 seconds with laps running down on the 70-lap race.

"When I saw the car on fire on the straight, the smoke, I thought it could be Felipe but couldn't believe it," the Finn said. "I was able to bring it home."

Glock secured his first podium after overtaking BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica at the start and then holding off Raikkonen, who had pulled within five seconds of the German driver.

"I just tried not to do any mistakes and stay in front of him," said the 26-year-old Glock, who rebounded from a violent crash at the German GP. "I didn't expect the podium. ... It's just the perfect weekend."

Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr. followed up a podium at Hockenheim with a sixth-place finish ahead of Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Kubica, with at least 25,000 Polish fans cheering him on, crossed the finish line in eighth for his worst placing of the season to trail Hamilton by 13 points.

Sebastian Vettel retired after 22 laps when his engine overheated, while the Toro Rosso pit crew was forced to put out flash fires on teammate Sebastien Bourdais' car at both of the Frenchman's pit stops.

Bourdais finished 18th after pitting a third time to wipe off excess foam on his visor from the fire extinguisher.

The teams and drivers have three weeks before the next race on Aug. 24 — the inaugural Valencia GP.