Joe Gibbs Racing employees suspended

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Joe Gibbs Racing has suspended crew chiefs Jason Ratcliff and Dave Rogers after both men were cited for cheating at last Saturday's Nationwide auto race.

The men were cited for NASCAR for rules violations during a post-race inspection of cars driven by Joey Logano and Tony Stewart following the Carfax 250 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn.

"In our post-race inspection, inspectors discovered some shims that were placed on the gas-pedal stop," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition in a release. "They were magnets that were about a quarter-inch thick that prevented the accelerator from going 100 percent wide open."

Both Logano and Stewart were fined $50,000 while Gibbs was penalized 150 championship owner points for each car.

"We take full responsibility and accept the penalties NASCAR has levied against us today," Gibbs said in a statement, (but) we are disappointed that NASCAR chose to place our drivers on probation, as they had no knowledge or involvement of this incident."