NASCAR Cup Series

Childress responds to team orders speculation

Published Sep. 16, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Team owner Richard Childress on Friday shot down speculation that Paul Menard’s late-race spin at Richmond International Raceway was intentional.

Childress was reacting to questions raised Thursday during the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Media Day about whether Menard spun intentionally in an effort to aid teammate Kevin Harvick.

"There were no team orders despite all the speculation in the media,” he said in a statement. “I know Paul Menard well enough that he wouldn't have spun out on purpose even if he had been asked. We are at Chicagoland Speedway to win the race and get a great start toward the championship."

The statement also said there would be no further comment from Richard Childress Racing about the issue.

The questions stemmed from Menard’s spin, which came with Jeff Gordon leading with 16 laps to go in Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. The ensuing caution set up a pit sequence in which Harvick took the lead and went on to win the race. On Friday, Gordon questioned the timing of the caution – and some radio chatter that he was told accompanied it.

''If any of that is true of what's being speculated right now, all I can say is I've lost a lot of respect for Paul Menard if that's the case,'' Gordon said Thursday during a media tour of the 12 Chase drivers, according to The Associated Press.

''I don't want to blame him for any of that if it's not true. He might have just lost it off of Turn 4 and the caution came out. But when you listen to the radio, and I've had other people translate it to me, it sounds a little fishy.''