NASCAR looking at Menard’s spin at Richmond

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

JOLIET, Ill.

Reacting to suspicions surrounding Paul Menard’s spin late in last Saturday’s Sprint Cup race at Richmond, NASCAR president Mike Helton said Friday the sanctioning body will look into the accident that caused a late caution and changed the course of the race.

With Jeff Gordon leading, Menard spun his already heavily damaged Chevrolet with 17 laps left in the final regular-season Cup event. Kevin Harvick, Menard’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing, took advantage of the caution and won the race, pulling away from Gordon after a restart with 12 laps left.

Carl Edwards finished second and Gordon third.

Analyst Jimmy Spencer reviewed the radio chatter between Menard and his team on Speed’s “Race Hub” and suggested the spin might have been intentional.

On Friday, team owner Richard Childress issued a statement emphatically denying the charge.

“There were no team orders despite all the speculation in the media,” Childress said. “I know Paul Menard well enough that he wouldn’t have spun out on purpose even if he had been asked. We are at Chicagoland Speedway to win the race and get a great start toward the championship.”

Harvick is the only one of four RCR drivers to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, but he was locked in before the race at Richmond. Harvick did gain three extra bonus points toward the Chase with the victory and begins NASCAR’s 10-race playoff with 2,012 points, tied with Kyle Busch for the series lead.

In one radio exchange, Menard was instructed to “go to channel 2,” a frequency different from the primary channel used by the team. The NASCAR rule book requires all communications between drivers, spotters and crew chiefs during competition to be broadcast on analog channels.

Helton said NASCAR planned to review videotape of the spin itself, as well as listening to whatever radio communication might be available.