Turns out it is a sway bar and Roush didn't know it was missing untill it was returned?
Mikey is pleading ignorance (no stretch there) and says the part wouldn't fit his car anyways. Oh the drama of Nascar

On that note I see Jeff has the pole today and Tony got into the top 10 (9th).
And it looks Kyle Petty is out for the season now that he has to qualify to stay

Top three cars in practice?

1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 35 95.299 19.870 93.308
2 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 30 94.851 19.960 93.537
3 24 Jeff Gordon Chevy 25 94.846 19.970 93.583


Caey Mears was 24th quickest.

Hendrick should have a strong showing at Martinsville.

And the last 10 years 10 ten finishes at Martinsville, the paperclip from hell?
* Includes only active drivers



Name Races Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 DNF Avg Start Avg Finish
Jeff Gordon 18 6 5 12 15 0 5.6 6.9
Jimmie Johnson 12 1 4 8 11 1 13.1 6.2
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 16 0 0 7 7 2 11.8 14.8

well since the King retired i been looking for someone to cheer....

so GO 24!!!

Add 64 to that number to get back in my good graces.





Swaybars are proprietary, and there'* no good reason why MWR would have had one from RFR. Regardless of WHO took it, they are employed by MWR. Jack Rousch can do whatever he feels is right.

First he needs to minus 4 from that number not add :P

Second, according to many others parts get mixed up all the time after an inspection.
Either way Mikey has deep pockets and no points so it wont hurt him at the end of the day.

Waltrip insisted that it wasn't a theft, that the bar accidentally wound up at his shop after the September race at Dover and that nobody realized it belonged to Roush Fenway Racing until that organization called to inquire about it in January. "Accidents happen, mistakes happen," Waltrip said. "If you look inside this garage area today there'* over 70 racing vehicles in here and stuff gets slung everywhere ... I could see why he would be upset. He feels like he was wronged and he'* mad about it." Roush said the sway bar was specially designed by Roush Fenway for his cars. He said they were larger than the old bars, unable to fit in the toolbox slot and were put underneath the box instead. Roush said a member of a Toyota team -- which turned out to be David Reutimann'* #00 car -- parked next to him at Dover, then walked over and took the piece. "I don't know what makes him tick," Waltrip said of Roush. "But I do know that no one went to his toolbox and swiped his bar." Waltrip said he had no knowledge that the piece was sandblasted to hide its identity and that somebody from his team called a vendor to have it duplicated as Roush alleged. "I don't have knowledge of any of that," he said. "I heard it was painted blue and when we figured out that it wasn't ours then it was set off to the side and eventually returned."


My gut says that the vendor who was asked to duplicate it is the one that told Jack Rousch about the bar being in MWR'* possession. Vendors in the sport have loyalties and respect for each other.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. If the bar was actually sandblasted, that'* going to put a little interesting bit of info into the drama.

[quote="willwren"]

Add 64 to that number to get back in my good graces.



well i did cheer for # 3 at one time.... does that count?

Toyota had nothing to do with this incident, or the previous one for that matter last daytona. They're one of the classiest companies in modern racing these days, their efforts are FINALLY starting to pay off in F1.

Can I see how **** gets misplaced in the wide open garages of nascar? Yes, should they have done something when they realized it wasn't theirs? yah..

I really liked Mikey back in the day when he won the '500 and all. Shame..

MWR represents Toyota til they dump him.

Ever really seen a NASCAR garage? Very neatly organized SEPERATE bays. A place for everything and everything in it'* place. There is no such thing as unorganized or haphazard at all.

I can show you pics a friend recently shot if you like. There are never any parts or tools just laying around.

IMO, this type of thing is exactly what keeps the drama and emotions of NASCAR fans high. This in turn helps keep up "rivalries" and sells more tickets and paraphernalia.

It'* like WWF!!