Is it time for NASCAR to put a governor on Toyota power in the Nationwide Series?

Chevrolet driver Clint Bowyer thinks so. He claims the No. 20 Camry is so strong that owner Joe Gibbs could put a monkey behind the wheel and win.

Bowyer, the series points leader, was racing Ford driver Carl Edwards at Daytona recently when eventual race winner Denny Hamlin powered the No. 20 Toyota to the inside of both cars through the first and second corners -- and drove away.

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We've got to do the best we can to catch up, and I really appreciate NASCAR looking into it. Hopefully, we're all racing the same engines -- the same power.

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-- CARL EDWARDS

Bowyer and Edwards nearly wrecked in disbelief.

Two weeks earlier, NASCAR had taken engines from a Nationwide race at Milwaukee for dynamometer testing at the sanctioning body's research-and-development center in Concord, N.C. The results of a small sample showed Toyota with a peak horsepower advantage of 21 over Ford, 20 over Chevrolet and four over Dodge.

After Kyle Busch won the July 11 race at Chicagoland in the No. 18 Gibbs Toyota -- the 14th Toyota victory in 20 races to that point -- NASCAR took 10 power plants to Concord for testing: three Toyotas, three Chevrolets, two Fords and two Dodges. In the third dyno test of the season for the Nationwide Series, those 10 not-so-little engines told a different story.

"I know the numbers for every car that was tested, and the whole motor issue sounds a lot quieter this week than it did in weeks past," said Dave Rogers, crew chief for all nine of the No. 20 Toyota's 2008 victories, which have featured four different drivers. "That's because there was a lot of parity.

"If you take out the best and the worst, the first and the 10th car, and you look at those eight in the middle -- and we were in the middle -- there was a lot of parity, more than NASCAR could ask for. You have a two-horsepower spread that captures six or seven cars."

Rogers cites the most recent data to bolster the argument that NASCAR doesn't need to make changes to the engine rules, but Nationwide Series director Joe Balash says the sanctioning body is still analyzing the cumulative results and hasn't decided whether action is needed to even out the competition.

"I really don't want to speak either way, because there's so much data that you have to look at and so many things that you look at with three different dyno tests to make those comparisons," Balash said Saturday after the drivers' meeting at Gateway International Speedway. "Part of what we do as a sanctioning body is we balance competition. But along with that, if the information says that everything's good, then we'll be status quo. We've got to look at the data."

Though NASCAR measured both peak and average horsepower in the test from Chicago, Edwards thinks there's inequity in the way the respective engines pull through the corners.

"From what I understand, it's not just the peak numbers," Edwards said. "We're at 5,500 rpm in the middle of the corner and 8,500 at the end of the straightaway. An engine builder -- like Joe [Balash] told me -- he understands an engine builder can build a peak number to say whatever he wants. But does the motor pull all the way?"

Though Edwards won Saturday at Gateway -- after Roush Fenway Racing teammate Jamie McMurray paced qualifying in his Ford -- Edwards still believes there's a power disparity between the Toyotas and other brands.

"It was a little interesting to me," Edwards said Saturday after the win. "We were so far down, and then they took the engines last week and they weren't that far off all of a sudden.

"I do believe there's a lot of dynos in the world, but there's no dyno like the big asphalt one [the racetrack]. And that dyno says that we're down. We've got to do the best we can to catch up, and I really appreciate NASCAR looking into it. Hopefully, we're all racing the same engines -- the same power."

Rogers has a possible explanation for the difference between the two most recent tests. NASCAR's introduction of a tapered spacer in the Nationwide Series this season has reduced horsepower while prolonging the life of the engine.

"If you're trying to save a little bit of money," Rogers said, "it would be a great idea to take a motor that's been run once or twice to a short track where there's not going to be a lot of Cup drivers and you probably don't need that horsepower.

"So why not take your worst motor to Milwaukee? You've only got a couple of Cup drivers. You probably don't need your best stuff to win. But when you go to Chicago, and you've got 50 cars entered, you'd better bring the heat. I think when everybody brought the heat, you saw there's a lot of parity."

Nor does Rogers believe Gibbs engine builder Mark Cronquist should be penalized for a job well done.

"There's no doubt that our TRD [Toyota Racing Development] motors make a lot of power and make great fuel mileage, but that's what you'd expect," he said. "You look at the chassis dyno wars. We don't win them all the time, but more times than not, our cars are right up top.

"That's what Mark gets paid to do. He gets paid to make the most horsepower, and when he's doing it, I think he deserves a pat on the back."

But NASCAR is the sole arbiter of competition, and we'll know whether the sanctioning body thinks Toyota power needs ratcheting down when the engine rules change -- or when they don't.

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