Denny Hamlin, who thought he had enough gas while leading when his car sputtered and didn’t start with three laps remaining in the Pep Boys Auto 500, actually had water in his fuel cell at the time. Whether that caused him not to accelerate and get hit from behind by Martin Truex Jr. is uncertain, Joe Gibbs Racing Senior Vice President Jimmy Makar said Sunday night at Atlanta. But what is certain is that Hamlin and Bill Davis Racing’s Dave Blaney had water in their fuel cells, and Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle also might have had a similar situation. NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said that no water was found in the Sunoco pumps following the race. Darby said all of the Sunoco documentation from the weekend shows no water in the tanks.(SceneDaily.com)(10-28-2007) UPDATE: Water found in the fuel tanks of cars driven by #11-Denny Hamlin and #22-Dave Blaney during Sunday’s Nextel Cup race at Atlanta was not isolated to those teams, a NASCAR official said Monday. Water also was discovered in the fuel of the Penske Racing cars driven by #2-Kurt Busch and #12-Ryan Newman after returning to Charlotte, N.C. In addition, water was found in the fuel cell of all three Richard Childress racing team cars belonging to #29-Kevin Harvick, #07-Clint Bowyer and #31-Jeff Burton. #16-Greg Biffle believes his car may have had water in its fuel, although no evidence was found. NASCAR Nextel Cup Series director John Darby said the problem is more widespread than originally thought and that NASCAR has issued bulletins to all Cup and Truck Series teams to check for evidence of contamination so they can locate the source. Darby said everything from the underground fuel-holding tank at the track to the fuel trucks that deliver the gas to the individual gas cans are being analyzed. He said the underground tank is the least likely source because there is an alarm system located that can detect the slightest amount of contamination. Darby dismissed sabotage as a possible explanation, saying too many teams were affected for anyone to have been singled out.(ESPN.com)(10-30-2007)
