Waltrip claims error, not espionage

Michael Waltrip gave a less sensational version Saturday of how his team came to be in possession of a part belonging to one of Jack Roush’s teams, saying that what Roush asserted was “intellectual espionage” was merely a mistake.

“We didn’t know anything about having it until January when they called and said, ‘You have our swaybar,’ and we said, ‘We do?’ We told them that we would find it and give it back to them and that’s what we did,” Waltrip said before practice.

The comments came a day after Roush painted a far more sinister picture of the incident, saying the part was stolen, the team that stole it tried to have parts made to fit onto it and that he feared letting on that he knew they even had the part because he figured “it would wind up in the river” rather than be given back.

Roush said he considered getting a search warrant to take to the shop and find the part, but one of his employees called the team without his knowledge and the part was returned.

“We wound up with a swaybar there somehow,” Waltrip said.

“I promise you no one went to their tool box and swiped it. This is not intellectual espionage.”

Setzer wins truck race

Dennis Setzer assumed the lead when Kyle Busch had to brake to avoid a crash in front of him, then held on through numerous restarts to win the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Matt Crafton finished second, followed by Rick Crawford, Ken Schrader and Erik Darnell.

Dixon finishes first

Scott Dixon took the lead after Tony Kanaan crashed and went on to win the IRL’s Gainsco Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla.

Marco Andretti finished second, followed by Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves.