Hendrick teams warned after close call in inspection (cont'd)

Added Knaus: "If we were cheating, we wouldn't be standing here [Friday]. I'd be back in Charlotte. So obviously, that's not the case. We do a good job of building very, very good race cars, and we take pride in that, we really do. We've always taken it to what we think are the tolerances, but we never cross that line and we don't cross that line. The cars were legal. That's what everybody needs to understand."

Knaus said he plans to use the same car again later this season, at the upcoming event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As for the No. 5 car, Martin said his position as the series leader in race wins has made his vehicle a regular visitor to the R&D Center. And each time, it's been found to be legal.

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Jimmie Johnson gives his thoughts on the 48 car's post-race inspection following Dover.

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"The 5 car has been to the R&D Center more than any other car on the circuit," said Martin, who leads Johnson by 10 points in the standings. "We've won five times. They take the winner every time, and every time it's been legal. We were the random car at Dover. That particular car has been there, I think a couple of times already this year. It's close. But it's legal."

The reaction in the Sprint Cup garage area was a collective shrug of the shoulders. After all, there's nothing new about crew chiefs pushing the technical limits of a race car, a practice that's gone on since NASCAR's earliest days.

"NASCAR gives us a box, and you're supposed to use every bit of it, and if you don't, shame on you," said Red Bull driver Brian Vickers, a former Hendrick employee.

"I think Hendrick is as good at that as anybody, or better, of using every single bit of that box, pushing every component to the limit to what they're allowed to do. Obviously, the 48 team has crossed that line before. I'm not implying or insinuating that they did this past weekend. ... If they pushed every rule to the limit and they didn't break any, then as far as I'm concerned they didn't do anything wrong. Obviously, Chad has more fines than anyone in NASCAR history, so that's where the rumors are going to come from. I think, good for them. I wish that was us. When we go to inspection, we should have everything maxed to every limit that we possibly can without going over. That's the job of ingenuity as a crew chief and as a team in the sport."

Had it happened to any other team, it likely wouldn't have become the issue it was Friday. But the No. 48 team is going for its fourth consecutive championship on NASCAR's premier circuit, and Knaus has something of a history when it comes to infractions-- he was suspended for the first four races of the 2006 season for an illegal rear-window adjustment, and another six weeks in 2007 for an illegal front-fender modification. Knaus said those days are behind him.

"We've had our issues in the past," he said. "Trust me, I've had multiple discussions with [NASCAR president] Mike Helton and those guys in the past. The last thing I want is to sit in a closed-door meeting with Mike Helton again over what has happened to me in my past. We've worked really hard to clean up the reputation of this 48 team, and we're going to hold that to the highest regard and the highest integrity. We're not going to go down that path, and we're going to win as many races as we can and as many championships as we can as legal as we can."

Especially with so much on the line. A penalty of the kind NASCAR typically doles out for violations discovered on the current Sprint Cup car -- 100 points -- could be devastating for a team in the championship hunt.

"The last thing we want with what we're trying to do is have a situation in post-race technical inspection," Knaus said. "That is the furthest thing from our minds. We're going into this thing trying to win our fourth straight championship, and that's our focus."

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