BAR FIGHT.(Competition)(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing )

Don't expect a $100 million fine or a scandalous trial. Don't look for daily dispatches with "insider'' quotes. There won't be any penalties or threats from the sanctioning body, and it's unlikely that the law will show up. Careers won't be sacked.

In fact, NASCAR's latest scandal-Jack Roush's charges of industrial sabotage-is described best as a little ado about almost nothing.

"I hope this is over, because it doesn't involve us,'' Toyota racing executive Lee White said at Martinsville. "It's between Jack and another team. It wouldn't be anything if it was between any two other manufacturers. But because it's us . . .''

The Great Sway Bar Caper was a hot topic on a cold weekend. It began the week before, when Roush accused a "nondescript'' Toyota team of stealing a sway bar (or antiroll bar) last fall at Dover. Ironically, Roush Fenway driver Carl Edwards won that 400-miler, but his car flunked postrace inspection. Roush said the thief sandblasted the specialty piece and tried to duplicate it. He talked briefly about getting injunctions and suing but apparently thought better of it.

The day after Roush went public, owner-driver Michael Waltrip said his was the Toyota organization in question. But he denied stealing anything, saying that the sway bar simply appeared among his team's parts and pieces after Dover.

"Mistakes happen,'' he said. "Stuff gets slung everywhere [in the crowded garages]. I could see why Jack would be upset; he feels like he was wronged. I don't know what makes him tick, but I know that no one went to his toolbox and swiped his bar. When we figured out it wasn't ours, it was set ...