Neither the No. 29 team nor the No. 31 team were penalized last week by NASCAR. Credit: Autostock

NASCAR left holding the phone after RCR report

SPEED report on "bleeder valve" left teams with many questions

DOVER, Del. -- Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president for competition, was looking forward to a rare day off on Monday.

Then the phone started ringing.

And ringing.

	Jeff Burton and Richard Childress Credit: Autostock
	FUMING Normally even-tempered Jeff Burton is anything but after a SPEED Channel report claiming two of RCR's cars were using "bleeder valves" on their wheels at Loudon.  •   Complete story,  click here

Pemberton or somebody in NASCAR got a call from practically every owner and crew chief in Nextel Cup regarding a report that the teams of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton manipulated the air pressure in their tires for a competitive advantage at New Hampshire.

Owner Jack Roush called while waiting in the doctor's office for an allergy shot.

"They all want to make sure nobody's racing against it,'' Pemberton said Friday at Dover International Speedway. "Once we explained everything, that there was no way that happened, everybody was really happy with it.

"It was an incredible waste of time and energy on everybody's part.''

Pemberton's day off went awry after hearing Bob Dillner's report on the SPEED Channel following Harvick's win at New Hampshire.

Dillner said that the Richard Childress Racing teams of Harvick and Burton fixed the wheels to create a "bleeder valve'' that would release air and give the team the optimal pressure for performance.

Pemberton said the odds of an organization manipulating the air pressure aren't good. He reminded that Goodyear mounts all of the tires on the rims and randomly distributes them to teams, with no guarantees which tires are slated for which side of the car.

He said that officials randomly check air pressure before, during and after a race, going so far as to dip them into water to check for leaks.

Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier, said that with his checkered past with NASCAR he wouldn't be in Dover had there been a violation.

"Obviously, we're all in a position now in life with these racecars and teams and all the money that is spent, that we have way too much to lose to take a chance like that,'' said Berrier, who was suspended for seven races last season for rule violations. "NASCAR knows that and we're smart enough to know what's going to be what.''

Berrier downplayed the accusation, saying he wasn't smart enough to manipulate the rims the way it was reported.

"Obviously, I need to be farming and these other people need to be building space shuttles,'' he said. "If you're smart enough to figure out how to control something like that through something that is not mechanical, you're pretty sharp.''

Most at RCR believe the story was planted by another team to disrupt the momentum Harvick and Burton gained over the past few months. Harvick has won the past two races to give RCR the points lead for the first time since 1999.

Burton has finished in the top 10 three of the last four races to give two Chase participants to an organization that had none the past two seasons.

"For any success that we have or any failures we have related to this story, then the stance that you have to take is that NASCAR and Richard Childress Racing have a conspiracy against every other team in this sport,'' Burton said. "And if you believe that, then I've got a piece of land I want to sell you that's waterfront.''

Burton said that teams don't even bring their own tires to the track.

"We don't go to Goodyear and say, 'This is the wheel you mount the right front on, this is the tire you mount the left front tire on,' '' he said. "We don't have that ability.''

Burton said he'll be using the same tires at Dover that he used last weekend.

Harvick said the story is all part of the mind games that are common in NASCAR.

"So we don't read much into it other than when you're running good you're going to have these things pop up,'' he said. "It's no different than any other time you race for a championship.''

Berrier agreed.

"Misinformation had to come from somebody, and it didn't come from us and it didn't come from NASCAR and I walked right by that reporter leaving the track and he didn't acknowledge me,'' he said.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon jokingly said RCR is the most likely team in the garage to play mind games.

"Go back to the championship days with Dale Earnhardt,'' he said. "Those guys were notorious for that. I would find it pretty hard to believe that would come from another team.''

Regardless, Burton and Harvick agreed the allegations would not be a distraction.

"To be perfectly honest, it's enabled us the opportunity to say, 'Hey, let's go prove that [we didn't cheat]. Let's go kick their ass. Let's get up on them even harder,' '' Burton said. "If anything, it has motivated us a little more.''