CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR and team owner Richard Childress on Monday dismissed as "sheer fantasy" a television report that said race winner Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton had a performance advantage at New Hampshire International Speedway.

A Speed TV report Sunday said NASCAR inspectors had discovered that RCR teams had manipulated the rims on their Chevrolets to act as "bleeder valves" that slowly released air pressure in tires after the race. The practice is not technically illegal, and falls into a gray area of the rulebook that teams are supposed to respect.

The report left rival teams grumbling that Harvick may have cheated to win the first race in the Chase for the championship and take the points lead for the first time in his career.

"Those cars were completely legal, there was nothing wrong with either of them and the report stating otherwise is sheer fantasy and sensationalism journalism," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said.

Childress branded the report "false and misleading." According to the story, NASCAR told the RCR teams it could not bring the modified rims back to the race track.

"Our cars passed post-race inspection and officials at NASCAR assured us last night and again today that no one from RCR was told at any time not to bring a part back to the race track," Childress said. "The reported events and conversations did not happen."

Speed defended the story by Bob Dillner, saying he has a "strong record of solid reporting from the NASCAR garage."

"So there is no rational reason for us to consider that the events and conversations he related to Speed viewers are anything other than the truth," said Chris Long, Speed's executive producer for NASCAR programming.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

I said Kyle and Jimmie cheated last year with the shocks issue, it sounds to me as if Harvick has cheated and Nascar is covering up for him.  Although, I'm not sure if I understand completely how this process works with the tires.