Scandal brewing under NASCAR’s nose as Joe Gibbs Racing engineer allegedly involved in NASCAR IP theft for Rival: Reports

NASCAR has admitted to being aware of a scandal allegedly involving Joe Gibbs Racing and another Cup Series team. According to reports, a team without any cars in the championship race paid a rival team's engineer in cash for revealing their intellectual property secrets regarding setup information.

The recent Charlotte weekend witnessed a barrage of on-track drama. Be it NASCAR being late in issuing caution which apparently cost Parker Kligerman his first Xfinity win, or Alex Bowman's disqualification after failing post-race inspection.

However, an off-track scandal has surfaced, in which a team engineer allegedly transferred proprietary information to a rival outfit for cash. Even though NASCAR knows about the flow of information, they couldn't take action until a complaint is filed to address the matter.

Associated Press reports that after gathering details from six team executives, who wished to remain anonymous, it was revealed that the engineer is running a contract year with JGR. Moreover, as NASCAR can't take action before someone complains, the employees could walk away without repercussions.

NASCAR insider Jenna Fryer broke the silence around the ongoing scandal. She Tweeted.

"#NASCAR aware of allegations a team engineer stole intellectual property to give to rival team,"

Amid the intellectual property drama, Joe Gibbs Racing has remained tight-lipped and declined to comment.

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Joe Gibbs Racing secures spot in Round of 8 as Denny Hamlin surges back in the Playoff standings

Denny Hamlin entered the Bank of America ROVAL 400 with a 30-point cushion. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver's poor qualifying run jeopardized the #11 Toyota Camry's odds of advancing to the Round of 8, as he stood 18th.

Hamlin suffered another blow during the Lap 30 restart, by his driver, Tyler Reddick. As the pack steered through the newly-formed hairpin Turn 7, Austin Dillon spun in a melee that witnessed the 23XI Racing driver ramming hard into his team owner's #11 Toyota. As a result, the JGR driver's car's toe link broke and he steered into the pits to resolve it.

Even though the #11 team couldn't restore the damage, their sublime work in the pits paid off, as the 54-time Cup Series race winner salvaged a 14th-place finish and punched his Round of 8 ticket.

"It hurt the car, it knocks up a lot of alignment in the rear. My steering wheel went from being straight to 3'o clock. So, certainly had a detrimental outcome to my car but certainly, Chris (Gabehart-crew chief) did a great job with his adjustments to compensate for the handling that bent toe link did," Hamlin said via Bob Pockrass on X.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell clinched a runner-up finish and will enter the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 13-point surplus. On the other hand, Hamlin is placed sixth and is shy of 8 points.