Yeah but what about the intake manifold?
Prolly just boring stuff...hey JR is up in three more...
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Michael Waltrip had the intake manifold confiscated for his No. 55 NAPA Toyota after NASCAR officials noticed a funny smell coming from the car during qualifying inspection for the Daytona 500.
After the finding, Waltrip was allowed to switch to a backup engine and is scheduled to qualify 44th.
"We might have an engine problem that is causing some blow by with the oil," Waltrip said. "They (NASCAR) are not mad at us. We are not in trouble. They just don't know what happened and we don't either. We just started the motor with a new intake and it was fine.
The intake manifold will be taken to the NASCAR Research and Development facility in Concord, North Carolina.
"It’s probably nothing but time will tell," Waltrip said. "It's easy for people to assume the worst when they get something confiscated, but from all the research that I have done with my people we wouldn't do anything to make that motor not be right.
As of now, no penalties will be assessed to the No. 55 team.
"If we were in real trouble they probably would have taken the car. That's kind of the way they do things," Waltrip said.
Waltrip along with his teammate David Reutimann need to qualify on time or race their way in Thursday's Gatorade Duels. Dale Jarrett, the third car at Michael Waltrip Racing, has the past champions provisional to fall back on.