Jeff Burton is not happy with SPEED or reporter Bob Dillner. Credit: Autostock

SPEED defends RCR story while Burton fumes

Dillner reported Childress teams had messed with wheels

A SPEED Channel report following Sunday's Sylvania 300 stating that Richard Childress Racing's Nos. 29 and 31 Nextel Cup teams had manipulated racing wheels to release air pressure from the tire has triggered a firestorm of debate throughout the NASCAR community.

It's also done something virtually unheard of. Unflappable Jeff Burton is livid.

Bob Dillner Credit: SPEED

"It's pissed us off," he said. "It's made us mad. It's made us very mad. We've done nothing wrong. We have no trick that's made us run well.

"We've worked hard. We've worked smart. And someone in the media who chose to use unreliable sources has tainted that. And it pisses me off and it pisses my team off and I have little patience for it."

In the report, SPEED reporter Bob Dillner stated that Richard Childress Racing's Nos. 29 and 31 Nextel Cup teams had manipulated racing wheels to release air pressure from the tire.

First on The SPEED Report, then later on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain, Dillner said that the RCR teams had doctored the wheels in a manner that created so-called "bleeder valves," which enable air to escape the tire to achieve desirable pressure for optimum performance.

Though not specifically in the rule book, such an infraction would be considered an unfair performance enhancement, NASCAR officials confirmed Tuesday.

As far as SPEED's report, NASCAR vice president for communications Jim Hunter vehemently denied it Monday, and RCR issued a statement that said the report was "false and misleading."

SPEED countered with a statement of its own, in which executive producer of NASCAR programming Chris Long said the network stands behind Dillner's reputation and his report.

NASCAR.COM on Tuesday contacted Long, and he remained staunchly in support of his reporter.

"I'm backing Bob 110 percent, and we'll stick to the story he put out there," Long said. "We have no reason to believe Bob would make up anything like that. I think NASCAR and RCR need to figure out where the story's coming from. It has nothing to do with us. We just report it."

Contacted later Tuesday, Dillner said simply, "I still stand behind my story."

Meanwhile, Burton is furious.

"Journalists have a responsibility to report the facts. If you want to pretend to be an investigative journalist then do a full job of investigating," Burton said.

"And if a true investigation had been done this story never would have been on air. He'd have found it to be erroneous. But he's chosen to stand his ground on half the facts. If you're going to be investigative get all the facts. That hasn't happened in this case.

"We had nothing wrong with a wheel. Nothing. There was nothing NASCAR looked at that NASCAR had a problem with. There's nothing we're not able to take back. Bob's story is a fabricated story by someone.

"When I say that, I'm not saying Bob fabricated this story, I'm saying someone did, and Bob chose to believe someone that doesn't have the facts."