Spying on the Spies:

A little bit of scanner chatter this afternoon provided some entertainment for those who happened to catch the action. The talk centered on a Hendrick Motorsports employee as observed by a Dale Earnhardt Inc. employee. The Hendrick employee, in street cloths, was taking pictures of competitors’ car noses and tails. The DEI employee dutifully reported each new location of the Hendrick employee as he moved through the garage. This week there’s been a lot of open talk regarding the rear bumper cap and rear-end styling of the DEI cars. There’s no doubt that there’s a visual difference in those areas between the DEI cars and the other Chevys. But NASCAR doesn’t inspect cars during these test sessions – unless requested – so, it wouldn’t matter how DEI, or any other team, trimmed any aspect of their car. The only true hit comes from lost test time, which is a valuable commodity with just four weeks until the Daytona 500.( Ford Racing )(1-10-2003)