Car Owner Jack Roush took the chance today to address members of the media after reading comments made by Lee White, the General Manager of Toyota Racing Development.

White accused Roush Fenway Racing of purposefully causing the lid on the oil tank of Carl Edwards’ winning car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to come loose.

After failing post-race inspection, Edwards and his No. 99 team were hit hard by the sanctioning body. The team lost 100 points, was fined $100,000 and crew chief Bob Osborne was suspended for six weeks. Roush and Edwards have both made the argument this infraction was caused by a part failure and was in no way an attempt to get an advantage over the competition.

White claims that based on wind tunnel sessions in Germany, removing the lid on the oil tank created up to 170 extra pounds of downforce. This increase in downforce would definitely give the No. 99 Ford Fusion a significant advantage over the competition.

“The lid was definitely off the car,” Carl Edwards told the media today. “There was no intent at all and that’s the reality of it.” Edwards went on to say, “I specifically asked the advantage of this, and my guys and they couldn’t even tell me.”

Edwards’ reaction to Lee White’s comments were simple and too the point, “I’m not doing anything on Monday and if Toyota, or anyone else, wants to go line the cars up at Vegas, hire a flagman and run 400 miles, I’d be glad to do it.”

For car owner Jack Roush this was simply an issue of a part failure caused by a vibration. According to Roush, the lid on the oil tank is secured by a fastener in the back and it was that fastener that failed.

“The guys at the track had nothing to do with this part, it is installed at the shop,” Roush pointed out. Obviously upset by Lee White comments, Roush pointed out he would be willing to subject himself, his driver and his crew members involved to a polygraph test to prove there was no intent.

Roush went on to read an email he received from Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith this morning. In the email Smith said, “If I were in NASCAR’s shoes, I would demand to investigate any other testing done [by Toyota] on illegal configurations especially the use of illegal fuels including the rocket fuel they used in Daytona.”

Not a fan of the appeals process or the National Stock Car Racing Commission, Jack Roush pointed out he would rather have his appeal heard by a court of his peers.

If the case were heard by their peers, the outcome might not be much different. Fellow Sprint Cup drivers Jeff Burton, Elliott Sadler and Ryan Newman tend to agree with NASCAR. Burton pointed out, “One thing that I have learned about these race cars is typically things don’t fall off of cars that hurt the cars.”

Ryan Newman, “I believe the penalty was justified. It’s good to see NASCAR being consistent in handing out penalties. I don’t believe that harmonics caused the bolt holding the oil tank lid secure to come loose.”

Elliott Sadler was much more vocal on the issue. “The penalty on the No. 99 was not severe enough. You need to penalize them harsher or make them sit out a race.”

Sadler went on to point out, “It insults my intelligence as a driver if you tell me that you accidentally left the oil tank lid off or that on. As a team we spend $3-4 million a year in the wind tunnel trying to gain an advantage when you can just take the lid off and get 100 lbs of downforce. They should take a victory away or do something to discourage people from doing things like this. I think we are going to get to that point.”