JGR's No. 20 released from impound

NASCAR releases No. 20 Car to Joe Gibbs Racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 10, 2003) -- The No. 20 Chevrolet of Joe Gibbs Racing, impounded March 28 by NASCAR for failing to meet its body measurement specifications during pre-event inspection of the race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, was released in part Tuesday to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series team, NASCAR officials announced.

Joe Gibbs Racing was allowed to retrieve the chassis and engine of the No. 20 entry, but NASCAR will retain the body since it did not meet the specifications of the 2003 Chevrolet body submitted by General Motors.

"We met with the teams in September of last year and clearly laid out to them what our goals and objectives were in regard to the construction of the bodies and inspection process for the '03 season," NASCAR Winston Cup Series Director John Darby said. "We have a tremendous amount of support in the garage for these objectives -- of which the specifications and body types are very critical for NASCAR's aerodynamic goals and direction -- and this was done in support of all those teams who are doing it correctly."

During the impoundment period of nearly 10 weeks, the No. 20 car was checked against the car templates, re-measured and late last week underwent a full-body digital scan process that records all the measurements and angles of the car in a digital file. During the entire impoundment period, the No. 20 car was held under lock and key in a totally secured storage room at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C.

-nascar-