Post by Rinconrolla on Mar 29, 2011 14:34:07 GMT -5
CHARLOTTE, N.C. | Joe Gibbs likes to say that, unlike many of his rival NASCAR team owners, racing is the family business and success is measured in victories and championships
Well, Coach, engine issues in each of the first five races this season is a clear sign that the family business is struggling.
"It's obviously a concern, and it's one of the hardest things any team does, is build motors consistently," J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said Monday. "But I feel good about our guys because in years past, we've had similar issues come up, and have been OK. It's just going to take some homework."
Not one of Joe Gibbs Racing's three Sprint Cup teams has been immune from the rash of engine problems that began with the season-opening Daytona 500. In fairness to the JGR engine builders, it was driver error — a missed shift by Denny Hamlin — that blew the first engine of the year.
But then Joey Logano's engine failed at Phoenix, Kyle Busch's blew at Las Vegas and Logano ran most of Bristol short on power. Most recently, Hamlin's engine failed 105 laps into Sunday's race at California. It led to a 39th-place finish that dropped him four spots in the standings to 21st.
It would be easy to say there's no cause for worry about Hamlin, especially with the series heading this weekend to Martinsville Speedway. A four-time Martinsville winner, including the last three races, Hamlin should be fine at a track where engines are not usually an issue. But since reliability — specifically, a lack of it — is the JGR issue, he can't be certain his engine will last an entire race.
"For some reason, our stuff is struggling to (stay) together," Hamlin said Sunday.
What's puzzling is that JGR can't get a handle on the problem, which is originating in the valve train. Parts seem to be breaking in the engines of all three JGR cars on a weekly basis, forcing repairs the morning of the races and, in some cases, last-minute engine changes.
"If it were just one issue, OK, it's one fix," J.D. Gibbs said. "But when you have several different issues, it's more difficult. We've already corrected some, but there's different concerns and different projects. Some are easy and some are more involved."
In any case, this is unacceptable for an organization that expects to compete for championships every year, and it apparently led to a contentious team meeting with Joe Gibbs after the Las Vegas race. But Sunday showed that nothing has improved in the two weeks since, and the ones suffering are the drivers.
Busch and Hamlin are legitimate title contenders, and Hamlin waged a furious title fight with Jimmie Johnson last season before falling short in the season finale. So JGR came into the year expecting Busch and Hamlin to both race for the title, and for Logano to grab one of the 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
Busch, who led a race-high 151 of 200 laps Sunday to ironically earn JGR head engineer Mark Cronquist the "engine builder of the race" award, said he knows the engine shop is working hard to get a handle on the problems.
Source of this story www.theledger.com/article/20110328/NEWS/110329417/1254?Title=Gibbs-Team-Scrambling-With-Engine-Problems
Well, Coach, engine issues in each of the first five races this season is a clear sign that the family business is struggling.
"It's obviously a concern, and it's one of the hardest things any team does, is build motors consistently," J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said Monday. "But I feel good about our guys because in years past, we've had similar issues come up, and have been OK. It's just going to take some homework."
Not one of Joe Gibbs Racing's three Sprint Cup teams has been immune from the rash of engine problems that began with the season-opening Daytona 500. In fairness to the JGR engine builders, it was driver error — a missed shift by Denny Hamlin — that blew the first engine of the year.
But then Joey Logano's engine failed at Phoenix, Kyle Busch's blew at Las Vegas and Logano ran most of Bristol short on power. Most recently, Hamlin's engine failed 105 laps into Sunday's race at California. It led to a 39th-place finish that dropped him four spots in the standings to 21st.
It would be easy to say there's no cause for worry about Hamlin, especially with the series heading this weekend to Martinsville Speedway. A four-time Martinsville winner, including the last three races, Hamlin should be fine at a track where engines are not usually an issue. But since reliability — specifically, a lack of it — is the JGR issue, he can't be certain his engine will last an entire race.
"For some reason, our stuff is struggling to (stay) together," Hamlin said Sunday.
What's puzzling is that JGR can't get a handle on the problem, which is originating in the valve train. Parts seem to be breaking in the engines of all three JGR cars on a weekly basis, forcing repairs the morning of the races and, in some cases, last-minute engine changes.
"If it were just one issue, OK, it's one fix," J.D. Gibbs said. "But when you have several different issues, it's more difficult. We've already corrected some, but there's different concerns and different projects. Some are easy and some are more involved."
In any case, this is unacceptable for an organization that expects to compete for championships every year, and it apparently led to a contentious team meeting with Joe Gibbs after the Las Vegas race. But Sunday showed that nothing has improved in the two weeks since, and the ones suffering are the drivers.
Busch and Hamlin are legitimate title contenders, and Hamlin waged a furious title fight with Jimmie Johnson last season before falling short in the season finale. So JGR came into the year expecting Busch and Hamlin to both race for the title, and for Logano to grab one of the 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
Busch, who led a race-high 151 of 200 laps Sunday to ironically earn JGR head engineer Mark Cronquist the "engine builder of the race" award, said he knows the engine shop is working hard to get a handle on the problems.
Source of this story www.theledger.com/article/20110328/NEWS/110329417/1254?Title=Gibbs-Team-Scrambling-With-Engine-Problems