Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

By NASCAR’s use of the word “issue” it clears the way for Carl Edwards to keep his victory.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Edwards’ car did not fail post-race inspection. Instead he said that inspectors found something amiss.

“We had an issue in post-race inspection with the 99. The lid on the oil reservoir encasement, or the oil tank box, was off,” Poston said. “So we’re going to take the 99 back to the [NASCAR] Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., and if there are any actions that need to be taken, those will be taken and announced next week.”

What? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck then it is a duck.

If a car fails post-race inspection, and the cause is not clearly a mechanical malfunction then it must be cheating - human error or not. Human error happens before the race and is caught in the many pre-race inspections, there is no human error in the post-race inspection just cheating.

The lid of the oil cooler was completely off. I’ve never hear of one just coming off like that, but then again, I don’t work on these cars everyday so I could be out in left field here, although I don’t think I am (at this point in time at least). The lid had to have been aided by human hands in order for it to come off. Edwards didn’t hit anything so it can’t even be blamed on that.

The scenario that I envisioned was one that goes like this;

Carl: “The car is just too tight in the corners, what are we going to do?”

Bob Osborne (Crew Chief): “Don’t worry we’ve got it covered, um I mean uncovered.”

Bob, to crew member: “Make sure you back that bolt off a bit so the lid is loose and we get that air suction.”

Then we all know what happened next.

Carl: “It was just one of those mistakes, human error.”

Yep, he loosened it off too much so that it fell off.

My predictions as to how all of this will pan out:

- Carl will loose 100 points, as will Rousch/Fenway but they will be allowed to keep the win.
- Bob Osborne will get a 6 race probation and get fined no less than $10 000 and no more than $50 000.
- Rousch/Fenway will also get the same fine as Osborne.

Personally, I think the fines and penalties should be more harsh for those infractions caught in post-race inspections than for pre-race inspections because if you get caught cheating before you actually did it then there is no way you can effect the outcome of the race, unlike getting caught after you cheated where you were able to effect the outcome.

Photo Credit: Action Sports Photography for motorsport.com

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