If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying is a phrase commonly thrown around by the racing enthusiast. Cheating and tampering with the fine lines of the rule book isn’t something new to NASCAR teams and drivers. However, in the era of spec cars and important team data, information sharing can lead to detrimental outcomes. In fact, two teams from different crews sharing information is treacherous, and this is something Joe Gibbs Racing is facing right now.

A report by a prominent journalist from AP, Jenna Fryer, shook the NASCAR world. Stating that a team engineer from JGR was involved in sharing information about the race set-up with a rival team camp. Even NASCAR knows about a potential scandal looming on the horizon, but without any complaints, their hands are tied. The report mentioned that the team involved in the scandal isn’t competing in the playoffs.

So this begs the question: if not the prominent rival teams, who would benefit from JGR’s racing setup? Although it is tough to point fingers at the parties involved, this NASCAR insider made an uneducated guess and highlighted RCR’s and Kyle Busch’s resurgence after the Olympic break.

Is Kyle Busch involved in the scandal that’s playing out behind the scenes at JGR?

Richard Childress Racing was in shambles for the entirety of the 2024 season until Austin Dillon won at Richmond Raceway in the fall. Kyle Busch had a torrid time on the track, unable to find consistent speed that cost him the playoffs. And a similar story panned out for Austin Dillon and the #3 team. However, both teams seemed to have found a magical switch as NASCAR rebooted after the Olympic break.

Although it looked like a welcoming change at the time, in light of recent events, there are question marks if RCR indulged in unethical practices. Moreover, Ty Gibbs’ interview with Bob Pockrass after the Richmond race is also doing the rounds on the internet. The young driver questioned the RCR’s newfound speed. “Definitely question where they got all that speed from as well, right? I mean, they haven’t been running good at all; now suddenly they’re super fast.”

Adding to this potential theory, Eric Estepp revealed the stats of both drivers before and after the Richmond race. “Go back to August. Kyle Busch has an average finish of 17.7 for 6 races immediately following the Olympic break, including that Richmond race. Kyle Busch has an average finish of 5.4. And his teammate Austin Dillon had led zero laps all year until that Richmond race, he led 35. It’s sus, that’s all I can say. I’m not trying to throw around allegations here. I have no hard evidence, we could be way wrong on this.” Estepp said this on his show ‘Out of the Groove’ via YouTube.

There’s a lot of uncertainty about how this situation will escalate or be put to bed. Either JGR will have to make a stern call, which will lead to a big controversy, or they might settle this behind closed doors. Although the current situation feels like a breach of trust and ethical codes, team-up and sharing of knowledge in NASCAR isn’t an alien phenomenon.

Ray Evernham and Andy Petree worked in a secret alliance

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Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt’s rivalry is one of the most standout ones in NASCAR history. Gordon, a young gun from Hendrick Motorsports challenged the mighty Dale Sr. and the RCR team. But the crew chiefs from the two teams were in cahoots. Ray Evernham, who led the charge of the #24 team with Gordon, spilled the beans on this partnership with Andy Petree from RCR in his book ‘Trophies and Scars’.

Jeff Gordon probably was the only one who wasn’t aware of this back channeling, as Dale Sr. didn’t give him an inch on the racetrack. However, he was as surprised as anyone when Evernham disclosed the details of it in his book. “I wish that Andy Petree and whoever Ray was working with then had told Dale Earnhardt Sr. that we were doing these kinds of things. Because I promise on the racetrack, he didn’t treat me like we were harmonious.” Gordon said this to Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Things certainly were different back then; you didn’t have a spec car, and crew chiefs back in the day had control over their machines. In today’s day and age, where ten-thousandths of a second can determine the result of a race, it’s almost impossible for teams to share their trade secret. Therefore, this scandal surrounding JGR is indeed huge, as they certainly didn’t sign up to share information about the race setups. At least that looks to be the case from the outside looking in.

Again, it’s tough to predict the outcome of this scenario as nothing is confirmed by the parties involved.