Cup Watergate: Sunoco Fuel Gone Bad?

In the internal combustion process, water doesn't burn too well. Actually, it doesn't burn at all.

Denny Hamlin's Chevrolet engine tried to burn water Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the result wasn't pretty. Martin Truex Jr. slammed into the No. 11 as it stalled leading the field to a restart, Kyle Busch spun through the grass, and Carl Edwards unbelievably jumped five spots on the start.

Hamlin's car didn't stumble because of a lack of Sunoco racing fuel in the tank, but rather a fuel pump filled with water that had somehow made it into the team's fuel canisters. When Hamlin hit the gas, the pump fired more water than gas, causing Hamlin's engine to sputter.

Dave Blaney and race-winner Jimmie Johnson also found trace amounts of water in their systems during post-race teardowns.

Only Hamlin and Blaney had significant performance problems as a result, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team suspects water caused Junior to fall back at the start of Sunday's race.

NASCAR apparently can't quite figure out where the water came from, mainly because it affected different manufacturers on different teams.Problems that supposedly won't happen again:

"We're very confident going forward to Texas and the rest of the year, there won't be any issues," NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said. "Sunoco will continue to monitor and perform all the testing procedures that they do at an event to insure the fact that the fuel is pure."

Darby once again dismissed any talk of sabotage.

"There's enough teams from enough different manufacturers, enough different contaminations, enough different everything - that if it was sabotage, it's got to be somebody who hates NASCAR racing across the board," Darby said.

You would think something like this would never happen in a major auto racing series -- especially with so much on the line at the end of a NASCAR season.

And Sunoco better make darn sure that what decides the season title isn't silly fuel problems.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-29-2007 @ 8:47PM

Kim said...

I am not convinced that we can "rule out sabotage." I think this is extremely "fishy," especially since it affected several drivers from different teams. There's always talk about "conspiracy theories" in Nascar and none of them appear to be "concrete theories" in my opinion, but this peculiar incident has the potential to be such. This is very strange, indeed. What say the rest of you?

Kim

10-30-2007 @ 1:37AM

Don Emerson said...

Well, you ain't got to be no holstein to figure out what's causing the problems with the gas. I ain't no fuel expert (except for being able to siphon gas real fast in the dark) but it's plain to see it ain't water. Just look around, there ain't a whole lot of port-o-johns down there by them pit boxes. So take a long race, 200 pit crew fellers, and viagra!!! , you done got yourself a problem in the making. If I was one of them drivers I'd be checking to see just what was in my gas tank before I went to tasting it for water. Keep it real ya'll.....

10-30-2007 @ 10:22AM

Maveness said...

It's even weirder about the water in the gas considering the drought down there. Both Penske cars reported water in the gas as well, as did Michael Waltrip, Greg Biffle, Denny and Dave Blaney, possibly Junior, Jimmie Johnson...at this point, the first thing I'd want to establish (if it's possible), who got gas when. Because it sounds like water in the fuel happened late in final practice and throughout the race. (Affecting some guys at the beginning of the race and some guys later, and never really affecting others although it was present.)

10-30-2007 @ 9:19AM

gene said...

of course johnson has no problem with the gas water and wins the race, i m really sick of johnson and chad knutts i mean knauss never having any bad luck, i m a gordon fan and i can clearly see that this is going to be johnson and knutz i mean knauss s championship

10-30-2007 @ 4:07PM

Uncle Bo said...

This one is hard to figure. Most people would think its gotta be water in the underground fuel tanks at the track, but there are sensors in those tanks that detect water and trip an alarm.

There is no practical way to sabotage certain teams. Each team fills their two cannisters just before the race starts. Each cannister is registered with NASCAR officials and a decal is placed on the cannisters after they're inspected.

As soon as a pit stop is completed, the fuel guy from each team hustles over to the fuel pumps and refills the cannisters. All the team are at the pumps at the same time so no way one team can be singled out for sabotage; everyone else would see it happen.

Also, the fuel in the underground tanks is very fresh as Sunoco fills them and checks everything before the teams get on the track. So maybe the fuel itself is a couple days old at the most.

Maybe the in-tank sensors malfunctioned? The water-in-the-system alarm didn't go off? Who knows, but its very odd. I hope they figure it out ASAP as the teams have no other choice but to use whatever NASCAR and Sunoco supplies them.

10-30-2007 @ 6:03PM

Uncle Bo:

Thank you so much for that explanation, makes some sense now. I wondered how the whole gas thing went down. I had no idea. I agree with some of the other posters, too. Atlanta is in a severe drought, so how would water have gotten into the tanks in the ground unless someone put water in them or Sunocco brought it in with the water already in the fuel. Maybe it was the fuel truck? No it couldn't be that, could it? That would only make sense if all the fuel cells were infected with the water. This is strange, indeed. Again, thanks for the explanation! :-)

Kim

P.S.

Gene:

I am so tired of everyone accusing Chad Knaus of cheating all the time. The one infraction he was cited for this year was not a severe one and they were just learning about proper adjusting on the COT car. And as far as Jimmie not having problem with the gas...they did find it in his tank as well. Yesterday on ESPN 2 when they were discussing this very issue, they said had the race continued any longer, Johnson as well as the other drivers might have indeed had some problems with their tanks like Hamlin did.

And finally, all crew chiefs "cheat" in one way or another at one time. I don't believe any of them do so intentionally. I believe they are all just trying to get their car the best that it can be and get a little edge on others. I am sure none of them want to be fined thousands of dollars along with a lengthy suspension. That doesn't help anyone! I mean, seriously. That just doesn't make sense.

Kim

10-30-2007 @ 6:41PM

bodhiwan said...

Chad Knaus has been caught cheating more than any other active crew chief. Now I'm thinking this means he cheats more than any other active crew chief. Mind you I don't see how he could have had anything to do with the water (or uh... other liquid) in the fuel. But Now I have nothing against Knaus but He Is a confirmed cheater. I believe in calling a spade a spade.

10-30-2007 @ 7:00PM

Tanner said...

Maybe the underground tanks had a leak and it went undetected for some reason. One team did say that the water was brown.

Kim, Chad did cheat again this year (along with many other crew chiefs). He is clearly known as the biggest cheater in Nascar. He was suspended for many weeks AGAIN this year so I would not call that 'minor' cheating. Nascar seemed to consider it as a severe violation. Finally, crew chiefs do push the rules. However, Chad is blatant about it and pushes it over the line. Nascar then has to react. There are plenty of crew chiefs that do not have to take vacations and pay fines because they don't cheat.