After Penske Racing received their penalties on Wednesday, the question was then raised, who ratted them out? One of the first suspects was Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports, but Johnson says they did not.

He did say, though, that his group has been watching Brad Keselowski and team, but that comes with success.

“When you have success on your side the magnifying glass the viewpoint for everybody, NASCAR, other teams, it gets a lot more intense,” Johnson said. “The best officiating in the garage area has always been your neighbor.  That has just been part of NASCAR for years and years.  That is why NASCAR has the procedures in place that they do in the garage area and why even in F1 today they are not allowed to cover their stuff anymore. It’s just part of it.”

Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Penske Racing was found in violation of NASCAR’s rear-end suspension policy. As per the report on SPEED during NASCAR Raceday, NASCAR did not approve of the way both Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano’s rear-ends were bolted in. Reports since have stated that the rear-end housings were attached in a fashion that they might shift the rear-ends of the cars into yaw during competition.

Well this was something was allowed last year with the previous car, NASCAR wrote a new rule in the rulebook this year to prevent teams from doing that with the Generation Six car.

Section 20-12 of the rulebook states, “All front end and rear end suspension mounts with mounting hardware assembled must have single round mounting holes that are the correct size for the fastener being used. All front end and rear end suspension mounts and mounting hardware must not allow movement or realignment of any suspension component beyond normal rotation or suspension travel.”

As a result, both the No. 2 and No. 22 teams were assessed multiple penalties, including a six week suspension for both crew chiefs, both car chiefs and both team engineers. Penske is appealing the penalties.

“I don’t think I’ve been surprised by much of anything in the last two or three days, but I think it’s really important to allow the appeal process to work its way out on its own,” Keselowski commented on the penalties. “That’s why it exists. I’m thankful that there is a process for appeals because, obviously, we’re in an ‘agree to disagree’ stage between Penske Racing and NASCAR, and there’s, thankfully, a third panel or group to settle those disagreements.”

Johnson went on to say that when you notice something, you have two decisions in what you can do about it.

“One, they go home and try to adapt it to their car and understand it and see if they can make it work or they go in the truck and say something,” Johnson said. “We don’t say something.  We are a company built on performance.  We are a company that tries to understand the rulebook as close as we can to the law.”

Johnson says that sometimes they do push those boundaries, as noted in previous penalties assessed to the No. 48 team, however that’s part of racing and has been since day one.

“We go in there and we try to be as smart as we can and conform to the rules and put the best race car on the track,” he said. “With all that being said, no, sure there was a lot of activity around the Penske cars during the test day, just like all the other cars and everybody is watching, everybody is looking, but in no way shape or form did anybody from the No. 48 car walk into that truck and say anything.”

Johnson also added that he has been “very impressed with the No. 2 cars staff and their ability to have somebody just stand and watch other teams.”

The fingers were pointed towards the No. 48 team in being the one to rat out Penske due to comments that Keselowski made last year about Hendrick Motorsports.

Following a race at Michigan International Speedway, Brad Keselowski made some choice comments about the rear suspension of the Hendrick Motorsports cars. Keselowski said that his team hadn’t tried to change rear-end setups because “there’s a question to the interpretation that as of right now it’s legal. We have not felt comfortable enough to risk that name and reputation that (team owner) Roger (Penske) has over those parts and pieces. Others have, which is their prerogative. I’m not going to slam them for it. But it’s living in a gray area.”

“Obviously, I don’t think there’s anyone out there who doesn’t believe the Hendrick cars were one of those groups, but I respect them and their ability to do those things and be innovators accordingly,” he added that. “So it’s our challenge to find that little bit of speed and have that true understanding of all the rules that it entails in that particular department, and that’s something that we’re watching. That’s what my comments were meant to say.”

He also said that Penske Racing doesn’t want to work in those gray areas, at that time.

“Brad is a huge talent,” Johnson commented. “But as we all know, Brad will say things. And when you’re in the sport long enough, you learn when you need to be careful. And no team is immune to the issues. I don’t want the crew chief’s job. Those guys live on the ragged edge and they have to. If not, they’re going to run 20^th every week. So, I think over time, I’ve learned and have also clearly experienced some issues where man, you just do your thing and there’s no need to spout off what other people are up to. I think there have been a few lessons that Brad has learned along the way this year as to when to say something.”

Matt Kenseth set a new track record during qualifying at Kansas on Friday afternoon, but in racing it’s rarely about where you start.

Roush and Ford racing teammates Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are well aware of that tidbit and plan to show on Sunday that while they don’t have the track record, they have the fastest cars in town. Edwards and Rookie Stenhouse qualified second and third respectively.

“I had the pole there for about five minutes and it felt really good, but we’ve got a great starting spot,” said Edwards on his run. “It’s a good lap. I hope our car is as fast in race trim.

“It looked like Ricky was pretty good the little bit of race trim he ran and hopefully we can go get this thing tuned in [Saturday] and win this race on Sunday. I think the Fords are gonna be really tough.”

Greg Biffle, another Roush driver, qualified 11th while their young teammate Stenhouse, earned his best career qualifying effort at Kansas and Stenhouse is driving for the same team that won here last fall. Should he follow in those footsteps, it would deliver Roush Fenway Racing their fifth win at the 1.5-mile speedway.

“We were hoping to back up what we ran in practice and I actually think that would have tied Matt [Kenseth],” noted Stenhouse on qualifying. “We knew we had a good car when we unloaded here and all the Fords are fast.

“Doug Yates and the guys in the engine shop have been working on our complaints we’ve had the first few races and it’s paying off right now. There’s a lot of speed here. The racetrack is really fast. [Sponsor] Zest won the last time they were here with Matt, so hopefully we can be battling for the win before it’s over with.”

Last fall it was Kenseth who won for Roush driving for the same team that Stenhouse rolls into Kansas with this weekend. And it was on that same weekend that Stenhouse won in the Nationwide Series, en route to his second consecutive championship.

That success, adds to Stenhouse’s confidence entering race day. He knows the new surface and feels comfortable with it, he says. The goal for crew chief Scott Graves and company will be to make sure no one gets in over their heads and the car stays dialed into the racetrack, hopefully parlaying into another victory.

A victory Edwards has yet to experience in Kansas. This is the home track for the Missouri native and he’s come close in the past – including a brave move into turn three back in 2008 in hopes of beating Jimmie Johnson.

“I feel that this season we have a couple of really great things going for us. We’ve got Jimmy Fennig on the pit box, who is second-to-none in the garage with experience and decision making capability,” said Edwards, when asked if this was the year he’d finally break through.

“We’ve also go the fastest pit crew on pit road. We talk about how difficult some of these tracks are to pass on right now, that pit crew is hugely important, so I think we have some great reasons to look forward to this race particularly, and the starting spot won’t hurt. I think it’ll all be good.”

On a somber note for the company, regardless of where the RFR drivers finish, team owner Jack Roush has pledged to donate $100 for every lap that his drivers lead to victims of the tragedy this past week in Boston. Biffle and Stenhouse have both pledged to do the same for any laps they lead.

RFR is half owned by John Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox. Each of their cars, along with many in the NSCS garage, will carry a special “B-Strong” decal in honor of the victims and those affected from the Boston Marathon bombings and the resulting manhunt for the suspects.

The green flag for the STP 400 at Kansas falls shortly after 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.