NASCAR found no problems with the cars of championship leaders Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson on Tuesday following a second, more thorough inspection. The Hendrick Motorsports-owned cars were taken to NASCAR's research and development center after Sunday's race at Kansas to make sure there were no issues with the Chevrolets. The team was warned last week that the cars had squeaked through inspection following their 1-2 showing at Dover "There was no room to breathe," Sprint Cup director John Darby said. NASCAR found that the bodies of the cars raced at Dover barely met specifications. The crew chiefs were warned not to bring the Chevrolets back to the track. The close call led to grumbling by rivals that the Hendrick teams had been given a break by NASCAR and should have been penalized. Darby insisted the cars were legal, by a hair. Martin is leading the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings while Johnson is second, 18 points back. Team owner Rick Hendrick said before Sunday's race at Kansas he wasn't concerned with conspiracy theories of favoritism, and offered to let NASCAR examine his cars every week. "NASCAR is fair, and if they want to check us every week, that's OK," he said. "I understand. I really do." NASCAR apparently took him up on his offer while expanding its standard two-car secondary inspection to four. Also taken back to North Carolina was Tony Stewart's race-winning car, which is standard procedure. In addition, Kurt Busch's car was taken as the random selection. Both cars passed inspection.
