The Paul Menard Radio Situation @ Richmond Thread

[Vincent Giacalone]

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, this explains everything.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news;_ylt=Am7m5Ya4h4ZM9H0ssX797d7ov7YF?slug=jh-caution_harvick_menard_gordon__091511

Opinions on this? Was it planned? Was it not?

[Alta]

Menard's tire was screwed up before the spin....Probably wouldn't have made it back anyway.

[f1fan12]

CRASHGATE!!!111!!!

[Cynon]

QQ Gordon.

[F1V1]

Blatant use of team orders much? I lost a lot of respect for Paul Menard. His tire was clearly not flat and he stopped in the grass to make sure he drew a caution.

[racingfreak1999]

If you watch footage from Inside NASCAR, you can see him spin out. Whether or not it was intentional is anyone's guess

[day500champ1]

QQ Gordon.

+1 and everyone hear knows the media. They did it with Kurt last Saturday know they are trying to do it with this.

[Cynon]

I don't think this would even have been an issue if it wasn't for the fact that it was a Hendrick Motorsports driver that protested it.

Kudos to Paul Menard for giving us another reason to talk about how fail the Richmond race was.

[PYLrulz]

You have to give NASCAR credit though for investagating this, instead of F1 where it took a year to start the whole Nelson Piquet Wannabe deal (and it had to take him ratting Renault out to get the wheels turning on that)

[Ben Atkins]

QQ Gordon.

+1 and everyone hear knows the media. They did it with Kurt last Saturday know they are trying to do it with this.

The media are very manipulative. They definitely blown this whole situation up. However, I think there was some sort of team orders there. I personally don't care, and I think Gordon needs to move on. I mean, he's only three points behind, so there's no major problem there really.

[flyingturns89]

Fe media are very manipulative. Fey definitely blown fis whole situation up. However, I fink fere was some sort of team orders fere. I personally don't care, and I fink Gordon needs to move on. I mean, he's only free points behind, so fere's no major problem fere really.

Fixed just to get Ben mad.

Anyways, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan, but I think it's a little ridiculous to say that "team orders" lost him the race. I can't imagine RC putting his reputation on the line like that.

[Ben Atkins]

Fe media are very manipulative. Fey definitely blown fis whole situation up. However, I fink fere was some sort of team orders fere. I personally don't care, and I fink Gordon needs to move on. I mean, he's only free points behind, so fere's no major problem fere really.

Fixed just to get Ben mad.

Anyways, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan, but I think it's a little ridiculous to say that "team orders" lost him the race. I can't imagine RC putting his reputation on the line like that.

You're cute.

[racingfreak1999]

I don't think this would even have been an issue if it wasn't for the fact that it was a Hendrick Motorsports driver that protested it.

Kudos to Paul Menard for giving us another reason to talk about how fail the Richmond race was.

I think your right about that. If it were the other way around, NASCAR would have probably said suck it up and move on.

[RACECAR]

I would normally just say its the media starting BS again or just call it conspiracy theories, but here's the part that bothered me the most:

Spotter: "Harvick in the lead, doesn't need a caution now"

Menard: "Don't need a caution now, correct?"

Spotter: "Yep, thats correct"

Why is that even mentioned? If this wasn't team orders, then why was there even a need to relay to ironically another RCR car that their teammate doesn't need a caution?" Ironically afterwards, why was the spotter asked to go to another channel?

I really want this to just be BS, but that transmission (at least the way it was all relayed) has me thinking otherwise.

[crl]

I would also chalk it up to media BS, but the part in the transcript that RACECAR posted really stands out.

[Blake Camphausen]

Team orders by far. Atleast they tried to not be as blatant as Ferrari at Austria

[Cynon]

You have to give NASCAR credit though for investagating this, instead of F1 where it took a year to start the whole Nelson Piquet Wannabe deal (and it had to take him ratting Renault out to get the wheels turning on that)

F1 teams are very smart about their team orders these days. There was minimal radio evidence for Nelson Piquet, Jr. at Singapore other than each lap being read off.

I'd like to add this point about Richard Childress team orders "costing Gordon the race". Gordon's team still had every opportunity to beat Harvick's team in the pitlane, and they didn't, and therefore, Harvick got the lead and could control the speed of the restart. I seriously doubt that's the first time something like this has happened in NASCAR in the recent past...

[pennst24]

This has happened before, Jimmy Smith fielding like 7 trucks in the '03 finale, then telling them to turn Gaughan into a human pinball.

[crl]

This has happened before, Jimmy Smith fielding like 7 trucks in the '03 finale, then telling them to turn Gaughan into a human pinball.

5 trucks, and what happened late in the race? Marty Houston (one of those trucks) slides out of control off of 4...and the first truck he bounces off of is Gaughan's.

What's hilarious about it is the karma that bit Smith in the ass was a horrible call against Musgrave.

[Mystrsyko]

In all seriousness, this wasn't a terribly manipulative situation. There have been far worse "team orders" in nascar in the past. I've heard that Earnhardt and others have paid other teams to park in the final race of the season to make it easier for them to win the championship. plus, this wasnt as obvious as F1's crashgate, where everything was planned out well ahead of the race knowing that their man would win

besides, what can nascar do about it? harvick didnt do anything wrong, so his win will stay. only childress and menard's team can be held responsible, and they'll end up with, at worst, some lost points and a fine. unless someone plants drugs on those guys, they wont get suspended or kicked out.

[Cynon]

This has happened before, Jimmy Smith fielding like 7 trucks in the '03 finale, then telling them to turn Gaughan into a human pinball.

5 trucks, and what happened late in the race? Marty Houston (one of those trucks) slides out of control off of 4...and the first truck he bounces off of is Gaughan's.

What's hilarious about it is the karma that bit Smith in the ass was a horrible call against Musgrave.

Makes you wonder if that horrible call against Musgrave was NASCAR's way of telling Smith that he was being a prick and decided to give him a taste of his own unsportsmanship.

[crl]

This has happened before, Jimmy Smith fielding like 7 trucks in the '03 finale, then telling them to turn Gaughan into a human pinball.

5 trucks, and what happened late in the race? Marty Houston (one of those trucks) slides out of control off of 4...and the first truck he bounces off of is Gaughan's.

What's hilarious about it is the karma that bit Smith in the ass was a horrible call against Musgrave.

Makes you wonder if that horrible call against Musgrave was NASCAR's way of telling Smith that he was being a prick and decided to give him a taste of his own unsportsmanship.

I suppose so, because Jerry Nadeau did the exact same thing to Ward Burton to win the Cup race in Atlanta three years before, and they didn't do anything to him.

[flyingturns89]

This has happened before, Jimmy Smith fielding like 7 trucks in the '03 finale, then telling them to turn Gaughan into a human pinball.

5 trucks, and what happened late in the race? Marty Houston (one of those trucks) slides out of control off of 4...and the first truck he bounces off of is Gaughan's.

What's hilarious about it is the karma that bit Smith in the ass was a horrible call against Musgrave.

From what I could tell, he only had four. The 1 and the 2, which were both full time cars, the 7, which ran seven of the last nine races, and the 10, which was a one-off, and that was Marty Houston. None of his DNQ'd either.

EDIT: Oh, and did some more research, and it turns out that Gaughan's team also entered an extra truck, the 61, and while the listed owner for Travis Kvapil, who was 3rd coming into Homstead, did not enter a teammate to the 16, a number 11 truck with the same sponsor as the 16, and a owner listed as Dave Fuge, former crew chief of the 16, was in fact entered. However, Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, which had Dennis Setzer 4th in points, only 39 out, did not have another enter, and ended up 2nd in points, only nine out.

[F1V1]

There's no use for it anywhere. It takes a complete lack of balls to wreck someone or wreck yourself just because your teammate wasn't good enough to beat someone on his/her own merit. Congratulations Richard Childress, you're no better than the jackoffs that run Formula 1.

[Sparkz47]

I'm with most people here. I was ready to shrug it off as coincidence until they went to channel 2. That's just...odd. I almost have to believe someone heard what happened on that channel, though, it's weird that they'd have an entire radio frequency with no one monitoring it. If that's the case, track down someone who listened in, then they can know what really happened. We'll see how this plays out.

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