Questions arose during the week leading up to the first Chase race of the 2011 season at Chicagoland Speedway as to whether or not Paul Menard intentionally caused a caution during last Saturday's Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond Internation Raceway. The caution enabled Menard's teammate, Kevin Harvick, to get off pit road first and eventually hold off Carl Edwards to win the race.
Richard Childress Racing issued a statement on Friday that read: "There were no team orders despite all the speculation in the media. 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 towad the championship."
The statement ended by saying there would be no further comment from the team about the incident.
Menard also commented on the controversy, saying "(Spinning intentionally is) something I've never done and I would have no intentions of determing the outcome of the race like that.
"(The story) is silly. We're starting the Chase and there are a lot of great stories you guys could be talking about instead of this one."
NASCAR President Mike Helton admitted that NASCAR is still looking into the controversy, but that because the race is over a penalty won't be likely.
The speculation also caused something of a war of words between Jeff Gordon, who was leading at the time of lap 385 caution, and race winner Harvick.
On Thursday, Gordon told the media that he felt the timing of the caution was "fishy" and that if Menard did spin on purpose he "lost a lot of respect" for the driver of the No. 27 Menard's Chevy.
Harvick, on the other hand, questioned whether Gordon would have caught the No. 29 if Landon Cassill, who's No. 51 is funded by Hendrick Motorsports, had not spun during the race.
"It's just that time of year when you have teammates and everyone has teammates and you have friends and there's a lot of things that you could debate. He's (Gordon) just voicing an opinion."
Harvick also said he believed the former four time champion was playing mind games with him.
"I know Jeff is very good, he's been here before racing for championships, he wants to stir as much stuff up as he can. We're going to focus on our job and race as hard as we can and do what we can. We'll take it one week at a time and one situation at a time and have fun with it."
Thanks to Richard Childress Racing, SB Nation, NASCAR Scene, NASCAR.com and the Virginian-Pilot for the quotes and information used in this piece. Photo credit to Yahoo! Sports.
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