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BROOKLYN, Mich. - Joe Gibbs Racing's NASCAR rivals had little sympathy after two of the organization's Nationwide Series teams were caught Saturday trying to alter the outcome of chassis dyno testing at Michigan International Speedway.

NASCAR inspectors discovered the two Toyota teams, which competed in Saturday's race with Tony Stewart and Joey Logano driving, had placed magnets on the cars' accelerator pedals. The magnets, at least in theory, would prevent the pedals from being fully depressed, which would limit the engines’ output and distort the horsepower data.

NASCAR confiscated the two engines and was able to perform accurate dynamometer tests, said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. Pemberton said any penalties would be announced this week.

"Their ass needs to be kicked out of there. They're shiftless," Chevrolet team owner Richard Childress said of those responsible at JGR. "They (NASCAR) just need to do something."

"I'll say it's damn blatant," he said. "I'm surprised they got caught. When people get an advantage, they don't want to give it up and sometimes they go to extremes to keep from giving up an advantage, and that's just what they did."

Ford owner Jack Roush, who has often been critical of Toyota's NASCAR efforts - particularly of the Japanese automaker's move to the Sprint Cup Series last season - was equally disgusted.

Roush actually spent more time faulting NASCAR for creating the problem by allowing Toyota to operate with newer engines in the series - which promped NASCAR to reduce the Toyota's horsepower last month.

"It's a loop that's unaffordable," Roush said. "I can't afford to do a new engine for Nationwide right now. NASCAR can establish parity with the tests that they've done or they can leave it be.

"If they leave it alone, they will establish not only the Truck series, but also the Nationwide series as a single manufacturer's bastion."

For his part, JGR president J.D. Gibbs admitted Sunday that members of his Nationwide programs did, indeed, attempt to alter the outcome of the dyno testing - an action he called a "poor, foolish decision."

"I want to apologize to NASCAR, our partners, the Toyota guys. A couple guys made a decision there that impacted all of us. To me the big question is why?" Gibbs said.

"I know they were frustrated and wanted to make it look like we're handicapped (on horsepower) even more than we were. I understand that, but that is not an excuse."

Gibbs said he had a good idea who was involved and that the organization would address the issue internally, regardless of penalties NASCAR levies against the teams this week.

In a statement released later at the track, team owner Joe Gibbs said his organization would accept "full responsibility and any penalties NASCAR levies against us.

"It goes against everything we stand for as an organization."

Last month, NASCAR announced rule changes for the Toyota engines used in the Nationwide Series. The new guidelines were intended to cut about 15 horsepower. Saturday's race at Michigan was the first since that change in which horsepower was expected to play a larger role in performance.

So far this season, JGR's No. 18 and No. 20 Toyotas have combined for 14 wins in 25 races, with the most recent being Kyle Busch's victory at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind., in late July.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon is winless and an undistinguished sixth so far this season, and crew chief Steve Letarte has drawn the brunt of the criticism from Gordon's fans.

"We focus on everything, from how internal communication is, how people are doing their jobs," Gordon said. "If making a change was going to fix it then there might have been changes. But that's not the issue.

"I think Steve Letarte is doing an awesome job. ... It's just been one of those years. I believe in what we have. There's areas where we're looking to getting stronger and better. The fans have to just be patient, and I remind everybody of what we did last year."

A year ago, Gordon won six races, ran away with the regular season and wound up second to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson in the Chase for the championship.

"We were an awesome race team last year, had one of the best years that I've ever had," Gordon said. "And Steve was the guy that was guiding that ship, so I believe 100 percent in him.

"Your confidence gets down and a lot of things happen. Performances aren't always there and it's the toughest thing to rebound from that, and that's kind of the situation we're in right now. We're working really hard. We tested this week in Kentucky and we just continue to work hard at it."

BROOKLYN, Mich. - UPS, one of the most coveted sponsorships still up for grabs in the Sprint Cup Series, could be headed to Roush Fenway Racing next season.

UPS is now the top candidate to replace AAA on the No. 6 Fords of second-year driver David Ragan, multiple sources said Saturday. Scenedaily.com, quoting Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith, reported Saturday that talks between the sponsor and Ford team were ongoing.

Stewart-Hass Racing, which is still looking for a sponsor for driver Ryan Newman and its No. 4 Chevrolet, has already been informed the new team will not get the UPS sponsorship, sources said. UPS also briefly considered sponsoring NASCAR's Truck series, NASCAR officials also confirmed.

Ragan, 22 and in his second full season of running the Cup and Nationwide series for Roush, is still in the hunt for a spot in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup. He is 14th in points with four top-five and seven top-10 finishes this season.

UPS is leaving the struggling Michaal Waltrip Racing organization's Toyotas driven by David Reutimann and formerly occupied by Dale Jarrett. The sponsor was also reported to have been in talks with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Yates Racing.

Denny Hamlin, who has made the Chase in two of his three full-time seasons in Cup, heads into Sunday's race tied with Greg Biffle for 10th and just 83 points ahead of 13th-place Clint Bowyer.

"We're performing OK now," Hamlin said of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team. "I'd say we're at about a C-plus level as far as our on-track performance.

"We're good enough to make the Chase based on how we've run week to week," he added. "If we just have another top-10 run like we ran last week (eighth at Watkins Glen), and do what we have to do, we'll race them once we get into the Chase."

The regular season will end Sept. 8 at Richmond, just four races away.

"We just need to make sure we don't have to rely on racing our way in that last race because you never know what can happen," Hamlin said. "In a short track, you can get caught up doing just about anything. We've got to play it safe right now."

And going for wins in the next few races probably isn't in the cards, either.

"No, we can't afford it," Hamlin said. "Not in the position we're in right now. We've got to solely try to get top-10 finishes. If we can do that, we should be fine."

BROOKLYN, Mich. - The 2009 Sprint Cup Series schedule will be released next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday, The Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com have learned.

As the newpspaer and web site have reported, the 2009 schedule includes all of the same races at all of the same venues as this season.

The only significant change is expected to be a three-race swap of event dates between Atlanta, Talladega and California. That would move the Atlanta track's second date to Labor Day weekend, California's second date to the weekend currently held by Talladega and Talladega's second date to the weekend currently held by Atlanta.

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Ryan Newman will be announced as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolets for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 on Friday.

Sources confirmed Wednesday that Newman would join Tony Stewart in driving for the team next season.

Stewart's representatives announced Wednesday that the team's second driver would be introduced at a 10:30 a.m. news conference Friday at Michigan International Speedway, the site for this weekend's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races.

Newman announced last month that he would leave Penske Racing and its No. 12 Dodges at season's end. He has been rumored as the top choice to join Stewart all along.

Newman won this year's Daytona 500 for his 13th career Cup victory in 246 starts. He has won 42 poles since his first full-time season in 2002, more than any other two drivers combined in that span.

Stewart has 32 career victories, all with Joe Gibbs Racing, in a decade of Sprint Cup competition. Stewart, a two-time Sprint Cup champion, is leaving the No. 20 Toyotas at season's end and will drive the No. 14 Chevrolets for his new team in 2009.

Stewart got a 50 percent ownership position in what is now known as Haas CNC Racing for agreeing to move to what will become the Stewart-Haas team.

Newman's decision leaves open his former ride at Penske, Stewart's current spot at Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 33 ride, a fourth team being added at Richard Childress Racing.

Joey Logano is expected to replace Stewart in the No. 20 at JGR.

Darlington Raceway is bringing back the name, if not the traditional date, of its signature race in 2009. The race held at Darlington on May 9 will be known as the Southern 500. The Southern 500 began when Darlington opened as NASCAR's first superspeedway in 1950 and continued on Labor Day weekend until 2004. The track then lost one Cup date each year and in 2005 its remaining race moved to Mother's Day weekend. "The Southern 500 is synonymous with Darlington Raceway," track president Chris Browning said. "Combining the tradition of the Southern 500 and Mother's Day weekend under the lights at Darlington is a real treat for NASCAR fans everywhere." Darlington is trying to begin a new Labor Day weekend tradition this year with the inaugural Darlington Historic Racing Festival on Aug. 30-31. Drivers and race cars from throughout motorsports history will be there for the festival. As of this week, the Indianapolis 500-winning cars from 1951, 1961, 1962 and 1977 have been added to the festival lineup.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - It was hailed as an "open-wheel invasion."

The arrival of four highly distinguished drivers from the open-wheel ranks in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series was one of the main storylines heading into the season-opening Daytona 500.

Down to the final third of the season, however, the former open-wheel stars have not fared well. And of the three rookies still competing fairly regularly - Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti - Hornish is the only one who appears certain to return next season.

Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve left the series and Bill Davis Racing shortly after failing to make the field for the Daytona 500.

Franchitti, last season's Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion, lost his Cup ride when Chip Ganassi Racing could not find a full-time sponsor to fund it. Franchitti still does some Nationwide Series races for Ganassi - he won the pole for Saturday's Nationwide race at Watkins Glen and finished fifth - but does not have a Cup ride for 2009.

Hornish, a former IndyCar champion, and Carpentier, who has won in IndyCar and the former ChampCar series, so far have been able to work through difficult seasons in NASCAR and at times put together strong runs.

"There are three things that I like. Formula Atlantic was fun. Grand Am was great to drive. But NASCAR is the most fun I've ever had racing," said Carpentier, who drives the No. 10 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

"I'm enjoying myself more then I ever had in the past in racing. I just appreciate the moment. We race in front of crowds that are unbelievable. To be able to be a part of the Sprint Cup series, I feel like a pretty fortunate guy."

Entering Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International, Hornish has qualified for every Cup race this season. His best finish was 13th at Charlotte in May. He also has a pair of seventh-place starts.

Carpentier has run just 17 of the 21 races so far, but has had some better performances than Hornish, particularly in qualifying. Carpentier won the pole at the June race at New Hampshire and has three top-10 starts. His career-high finish of 14th came at Daytona in July.

The native of Quebec, Canada, still awaits word from GEM as to whether he will return to the organization next season. His problem is much like Franchitti's - a lack of sponsorship.

"Racing always depends on sponsorship. I think that I'm going to be at (GEM), but it's racing and things happen pretty quickly," Carpentier said.

Carpentier has fought tough odds this season. Unlike Hornish - whose team had car owner points to ensure his appearance in the season's first five races - Carpentier has had to make every race on speed.

"Ever since I've been in NASCAR, I've only had one shot at it. I have to qualify the car every week to make the race and at one point it's like, '‘I'll give it my best and there's nothing more that you can do,' " he said.

"If you worry about it, you'll perform worse most of the time."

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Marcos Ambrose called his first Nationwide Series victory a long time coming.

He wasn't the only one feeling that way.

Ambrose's victory in Saturday's Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International was just the second victory for owner Tad Geschickter. His last and only win came in 1996 with driver Jeff Fuller at Bristol, Tenn.

It took some time for Geschickter to join the celebration as he was spotting for Ambrose on the backstretch of the 2.45-mile road course.

"It's been about 12 years and I think we've finished second about 12 times since our last win," Geschickter said. "It's such a great feeling."

Ambrose, who has come close to victory several times since arriving in NASCAR in 2006 from the Australian V8 Supercar series, kept clear of on-track scuffles that continued to slow the pace. First, it was a run-in between Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer and later Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton were trading paint.

Ambrose was running second with five of 82 laps remaining when then-leader Burton was forced to pit for fuel and he then held off Busch for his first NASCAR win.

"It sure is fantastic. It feels like I've got a huge load off my shoulder," said Ambrose, who is planning to run a full schedule in the Sprint Cup series next season with JTG Daughtery Racing.

"We've committed a lot to do this. I've dragged my family halfway across the world to do this. We're a team that's moving forward and I feel like we needed a win to justify moving forward the way we plan to."

Ambrose's work is not done, however. He is also entered in Sunday's Cup race at Watkins Glen, driving the No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers. He was the fastest in the first of Saturday's two Cup practice sessions.

Gary Cogswell, Ambrose's crew chief, credited the driver's patience with letting the race strategy play out.

"It's hard to just beat people. We were able to put ourselves in the right position to win the race," he said. "The car was good, but there were a lot of good cars out there."

Matt Kenseth finished third, Kevin Harvick fourth and rookie Dario Franchitti, Saturday's pole winner, was fifth.

Bowyer, the series points leader, finished 23rd and maintains a 128-point lead over second-place Brad Keselowski.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Casey Mears has emerged as the leading candidate to become the fourth Sprint Cup Series driver at Richard Childress Racing next season.

A source close to the situation said the likelihood Mears would move to RCR was "very strong," but that no contract had been finalized between the driver and the race team.

Mears, who is leaving Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the season, said Saturday he was still talking to a handful of teams about opportunities for next season. The 30-year-old driver is expected to address the media Sunday morning but only to say he has yet to reach an agreement with any team.

RCR has been planning on a fourth Cup team since announcing early this year it had acquired sponsorship for it from General Mills, which is leaving Petty Enterprises at the end of the year.

A report by FoxSports.com on Saturday said there was a possibility Mears and RCR driver Clint Bowyer could swap sponsors at RCR, with Mears driving for the team sponsored by Jack Daniels and Bowyer driving the No. 33 sponsored by General Mills.

In 201 career Cup starts, Mears has one win, 12 top-five and 40 top-10 finishes. He is currently 24th in points in Hendrick's No. 5 Chevrolet.