NASCAR Engineer Allegedly Sold Setup Information to Competitor
What’s Happening? In what may be the most shocking racing news of the NASCAR Playoffs, a new report says that a…
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The news that a Joe Gibbs Racing engineer sold NASCAR Cup Series car setups to a competitor shocked the landscape of the NASCAR world. For longtime fans of NASCAR, the impact of this news is huge. However, for those unfamiliar, why is stealing setups so important?
What’s Happening? In what may be the most shocking racing news of the NASCAR Playoffs, a new report says that a…
What’s Happening? Yesterday, yet another major NASCAR story broke. However, this story is different from those we have already heard this…
This current situation with Joe Gibbs Racing began Monday evening. The initial report from Jenna Fryer of AP Sports stated that an engineer from JGR, on a contract year, sold setup information to another team.
We don’t know who the buying team is, and NASCAR has no official comment other than that they know about this accusation. However, Fryer mentioned that the team is a non-playoff team. 2024 non-playoff teams include:
From the rumor mill, some think that Legacy Motor Club could be the culprit. However, there is no evidence that this is the case, and most of the “rumors” about LMC surround the idea of their rocky first year with Toyota.
The only team in the rumor mill that has some form of evidence against them is Richard Childress Racing. Several rumor mill accounts say that RCR is the buyer, and a mid-August interview with Ty Gibbs suggests that this could be the case.
“But, definitely questionable where they [RCR] got all that speed from as well, right? I mean, they haven’t been running good at all, now, all the sudden, they are super fast. So, definitely curious on that.” — Ty Gibbs
We may never officially know who purchased this information from the JGR Engineer, as NASCAR cannot act until JGR files a lawsuit or complaint against the alleged buyer. Still, this story has a chance to be one of the biggest scandals in modern history. But why?
Setups are the lifeblood of NASCAR competition. They are what makes the major difference in cars at the Cup Series level. However, in the past, this was not the case.
With past generations of NASCAR race cars teams had many other “competitive” methods of changing a race car beyond setups. Not that the right setup wasn’t the key to winning, but teams could “cheat-up” a car by shaping the body a specific way or modifying key parts of the car.
Most of these methods changed with the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow in 2007 and 2008 and the Gen 6 car in 2013. However, the most significant change in NASCAR history was the introduction of the Next Gen Car in 2022.
The Next-Gen car is essentially a spec car, meaning that all cars are remarkably similar. These similarities include chassis’, body shape, and other key car components, with teams sharing parts purchased from NASCAR’s approved suppliers.
These similarities make setups even more crucial for teams. On almost every race weekend, the right setup can make all the difference between a first-place and a 20th-place car. Furthermore, the money put into a single-race setup by teams and manufacturers makes this theft almost a financial theft.
This newfound level of importance makes this a crucial moment in NASCAR history, almost like a major sign-stealing scandal in baseball or football. If this does proceed in a legal or punishable manner, it could set a major precedent for future cases of a similar nature. That is, of course, a major what-if.
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