Hyder back to work at MWR: Banished crew chief David Hyder has returned to the Michael Waltrip Racing shop, working on the cars while under indefinite suspension for the Daytona fuel scandal. NASCAR officials found an illegal fuel additive in Michael Waltrip's car before and after Daytona 500 qualifying Feb. 11, and the sanctioning body subsequently handed down a record $100,000 fine, as well as a 100-point penalty. "In the world outside of these [garage] gates, you're innocent until proven guilty," MWR Vice President Ty Norris said. "That's the world we live in, so we're just trying to figure out, still trying to investigate with all the fervor that we did before to figure out what is going on. He's working on these [No.] 55 cars, getting them set up and going to test at Kentucky." Norris said the investigation is continuing into exactly what the fuel additive was and how it got in the car. He said the team sent 15 different types of substances from its hauler to a lab and all came back as being legal. Norris said NASCAR has told them what chemical was illegal but he said his team was still trying to figure out where it came from. "We haven't been able to find out from anybody who knows anything about that particular type of substance to explain to us how or why that would happen or how or why it would leave a residue," Norris said. Norris also said he didn't believe it ended up helping with the qualifying attempt. "We slowed down a tenth with all of the qualifying oils and everything else," Norris said. "We slowed down the next day. I don't know why anybody thinks that it worked. We don't know what it was, we don't know what it was intended to do and we don't know where it was entered into the system."(SceneDaily.com)(3-10-2007)
