Accusations won't slow RCR Chasers

DOVER, Del. -- Jeff Burton is tired of the tire controversy. Kevin Harvick would like to stay focused on his winning instead of others' whining.

While it might be easy to become distracted when their team has been accused of cheating, Burton and Harvick insist that nothing will take away their focus at Dover today.

``Don't read much into it other than when you're running good, you're going to have these things pop up," Harvick said.

Both Richard Childress Racing drivers vehemently denied a Speed TV report that claimed they were manipulating their wheels to gain a performance advantage last weekend in New Hampshire. NASCAR and RCR strongly denied the accusation.

``What makes me angry is that this is a lie," said the usually unflappable Burton, who stands fifth in the Chase for the Nextel Cup standings.

Even worse for Burton than the cheating allegations is the notion of a conspiracy. Because both Burton and Harvick's cars passed inspection, Burton says NASCAR would have knowingly had to let the teams slide by for the story to be true.

``If our sport doesn't have the ability to separate fact from fiction, then our sport is in major, major trouble," said Burton, who starts 19th and enters today's race 64 points behind leader Harvick.

Jeff Gordon took the pole with a lap of 156.162 miles per hour Friday at Dover International Speedway, his first pole since June 24, 2005.

But bending the rules in NASCAR is just as much a part of the sport as turning left and sponsorship deals. What RCR is accused of doing -- using ``bleeder valves" that slowly release air pressure in tires after the race -- is not illegal. The practice falls into a gray area of the rule book that teams are supposed to respect.

Maybe it's not quite a conspiracy, but Harvick believes someone with a grudge planted the story. If they thought it would be enough to rattle him, Harvick says absolutely not.