iNSIDE SCOOP: Reputations

Joe Gibbs has spent an entire lifetime doing things The Right Way.

It is absurd and misbegotten that some now consider that lifetime tarnished because one of eight piston rods came in 2.7 grams light on a NASCAR engine teardown.

Come on, peeps.

"My entire life...every decision I've made, intent has been very important,” Gibbs said Friday at Richmond. “Intent is very important. There was no intent to circumvent the rules."

Anyone who knows Joe Gibbs knows that his is a life that has been played by the rules. As a coach, as a team owner, as a man…it’s the way he’s built. To think that he would put 45 years of professional acumen and trust on the line for 2.7 grams that don’t mean a hill of beans is just not conceivable.

After a life spent as a football coach, molding young men into better men and influencing a generation of them, he’s not going to roll the dice on a cheating scandal. He’d just as soon quit as do it the wrong way.

Understandably, he’s torn up about what he’s hearing in the garage and among the media, that he’s a cheater, he’s short-cutting the rules.

“This is probably one of the bigger things that’s happened in my life professionally,” he said.

No kidding. 

He’s been penalized before for various infractions, but they were never anything serious or involved mechanical means. He’s also never appealed a fine or penalty, in 22 years in the sport.

Until now, that is, and he’s not appealing the fact that there was a violation. He’s appealing the severity of the penalties.

I think that’s reasonable. It’s akin to being shown the electric chair after being busted for jaywalking.

Now, NASCAR has a procedure for stuff like this. If anyone messes with the engine, the tires or the fuel, you skip the ticky-tack stuff and go straight to the penalty phase, which can be prodigious. 

Fine. So be it. When there’s an infraction like this one, you expect it to hurt. But, exigent circumstances apply, and it is my opinion that the appeals phase will adjust the penalties accordingly.

For that matter, the same thinking holds true that will happen with the Penske team as well.

Gibbs was asked if he was thinking of bringing his engine program back in-house following the mistake by TRD. 

No, is the short answer. “We are partners,” Gibbs said. “We’ll ride this out together.”

Class.

Joe Gibbs is not a cheater. He’s an honest guy, faithful and true. He is in a bad position, but he’s not bus-chucking partners and screaming and yelling. He’s dealing with it the best he can, and that’s just how it was always going to be.