White, the general manager of Toyota Racing Development, told USA Today on Thursday that Roush Fenway Racing knowingly caused the lid to come off to increase the car's speed.He said Toyota's wind tunnel tests in Germany showed that removing the cover resulted in 170 pounds of extra downforce. He added that a video of a pit stop showed a member of Edwards' pit crew pulling on the side fender to open a 3-inch gap to an inner panel, and that Toyota tests showed that could create 70 pounds of downforce.

Roush questioned why White would test a car without the lid or with the side panel pulled out when both are illegal.
"Why would they do that?" he asked. "I wonder how many times they tested the rocket fuel on Michael Waltrip's car before they decided to take that chance at Daytona?

"It was an absolute mistake; there was no intent. And that's a reality," Edwards said. "The bottom line is I don't have anything going on Monday, so if Toyota or anyone else wants to line the cars up at Vegas and hire a flagman and run 400 laps again, I think I could do it on Monday."