Part of Stewart impounded car released

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR returned part of Tony Stewart's Chevrolet that was impounded March 28 after failing inspection.

John Darby, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, said Joe Gibbs Racing was allowed to retrieve the chassis and engine. The car was seized after its body measurements did not pass inspection before practice for a race at Texas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR will keep the parts that did not meet specifications. The problems were in "the area around the back of the car, back window to back deck," NASCAR president Mike Helton said.

Stewart had never driven the car. The Gibbs team has insisted there was no intent of wrongdoing, and there were no other penalties by NASCAR.

Darby said the teams were informed about the inspection process last September.

"This was done in support of all those teams who are doing it correctly," he said.

Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew chief, said the car is one the team used to run last year at Atlanta and Charlotte.

"So it's good to have it back," he said. "We'll obviously put a whole new body on it, and that's certainly better than having to replace an entire chassis."

Zipadelli said NASCAR has not told the team what it found in its investigation. The crew chief said the problem occurred when someone failed to check the chassis number before the car went to Texas.

NASCAR had never impounded an entire Winston Cup car, although it often seizes illegal or unapproved parts and displays them for other teams to see.

NASCAR held the car for 10 weeks in Concord, N.C. The Winston Cup inspection process has been more stringent this season for all four makes of cars competing in NASCAR's top series.

 

Related information

Stories

B. Duane Cross: Throw caution into the wind

Multimedia

Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video