Subs lead JGR Nationwide team back to the racetrack (cont'd)

Friday's early results brought some promise: while Logano's No. 20 car was 17th- and 16th-fastest, respectively, in the day's two Nationwide practices, Kyle Busch and the No. 18 placed fourth and first. It didn't hurt that Addington, Busch's Sprint Cup crew chief, spent some time confabbing with Brown and Hewitt in the Nationwide garage. DeSouza said all three of team's Sprint Cup crew chiefs, including Greg Zipadelli and Mike Ford, volunteered to check in on the two Nationwide fill-ins to offer advice and assistance.

"Of course, we're getting ready for the Chase, and the last thing I want those guys to do is risk anything, and they won't," DeSouza said. "They know that's the priority. But they just said, whatever you need, we're there. That was wonderful."

It all gives Busch enough confidence that the team's Nationwide program can weather the storm. "They've got plenty of depth there at the shop, so I feel like they'll be all right," he said. "They'll be fine."

Not everyone agrees. Denny Hamlin, a Sprint Cup regular who's won three times this season in the No. 20 Nationwide car, said one strength of that crew was the ability to adapt on the fly. "I'm sure they're going to do their best to keep their cars prepared at the racetrack, but a lot of times I've been in the 18 and 20, we've really had to work at bit to get our cars competitive. And we've had to work on it at the racetrack," he said. "We didn't always unload the fastest car and end up that way at the end of the story. It's definitely going to be a transition. I think it will hurt the teams, for sure. But if you break the rules, you have to serve the penalty."

The No. 20 team had to do some of that on-the-fly adapting Friday, when Logano spun in Nationwide qualifying and was forced into a backup car that required him to start the race at the rear of the field. But the 18-year-old driver has the benefit of a close working relationship with Brown, who's been on the pit box for the dozens of Sprint Cup tests Logano has participated in for the Gibbs team. DeSouza surmised that Logano may have more miles with Brown than he does with Rogers, given the driver's key role on the team's research and development squad.

"He's the R&D crew chief, you might say, lead engineer, I don't know. Whatever you want to call him," Logano said of "Wall-Dog," as he calls his interim crew chief. "I've known him for a while, worked with him doing a lot of these tests. He's a cool guy. It's different for him coming over here. You get used to Cup cars, which are 100 percent different than one of these. But you go back, he used to work on one of these cars, so he has experience with them."

Yet as fast as Logano runs, it's hard to outrun the specter of cheating, especially for an organization like Gibbs that -- with the exception of Tony Stewart's confiscated Cup car at Texas in 2002 -- has a relatively spotless reputation. "That's the first time I can remember in a long time an actual premeditated, planned-out scheme to cheat," said Carl Edwards. Dale Earnhardt Jr. believed the penalties should have been harsher than they were.

"For all the races they've won, I think they would have been a lot tougher on them," he said. "It was obvious, blatant cheating, and a unique circumstance too on the chassis dyno. I feel like they deserved a unique style of punishment."

Yet Kevin Harvick urged understanding. "It's something where -- and I truly, honestly feel this -- but I think J.D. and Joe Gibbs don't run their company like that," he said. "I think this obviously was not a decision that was made from the top or the people that represent their company. It was a mistake made by somebody who put their own mind to it. ... It's unfortunate because they've had such a great year, and obviously it's going to have a little bit of mud thrown on it. But I hate for it to put anything over what they've accomplished this year."

As for the Gibbs team, they've moved past the crime and punishment phase, showing remorse and slamming those involved even harder than NASCAR did. Friday was all about trying to win races again, despite circumstances forcing some different people to play different roles.

"Nobody is checking up," DeSouza said. "Our whole goal is to win races. That's what we're in business for, and that's where our focus and commitment is, and we're going to try and continue that path for the rest of the year."