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It appears that the engine issues suffered on Sunday by Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe were the result of a bad batch of valve springs but there is much larger quality control issue at play regarding Joe Gibbs Racing right now.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, Coach Joe Gibbs confirmed \u2018valve springs\u2019 on Monday during an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it always concerns you anytime you have a motor issue,\u201d Gibbs said on the air. \u201cWe feel like, this morning, we went through everything that happened and got all the parts out and we have a plan and strategy where we end up in a good position and it doesn\u2019t come back to us this next week in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have those parts, and anytime you have valve spring issues, they come in batches and we think we have that covered.\u201d<\/p>\n
So first and foremost, Hamlin and Briscoe had already won their way into the final four so it was ultimately no harm and no foul, but for Hamlin, this was the latest in a string of mechanical misfortunes that has also included problems with the starter and power steering.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m obviously concerned, but there obviously nothing I can do about it,\u201d said Hamlin after climbing out of his car. \u201cWe\u2019ll live with it and hopefully we\u2019ll get back next week and we are just going to have to see how it goes. I\u2019m confident in the speed that we\u2019ll have next week. I\u2019m really confident in what this team is going to bring next week and we\u2019ll bring our best, hopefully it lasts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibbs also had a press availability on Monday afternoon with the media corps and addressed the issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve been on that all morning,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cWe’ve all got the parts out, looked at everything. I think issues with the motors are always concerning. You never want that to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we kind of have understood where we are and what those parts were and have made adjustments, for sure. Really, those parts will not be in the cars for this weekend. So, we feel good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Gibbs said he left the technical stuff up to the engine department at Toyota Racing North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we do, we got a great group of technical people here,\u201d Gibbs said of their joint shop in Huntersville, North Carolina. \u201cOur Toyota people, particularly with the motors, which was a huge issue for us. It makes you really nervous. It makes them nervous, because they’re perfectionists.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this morning what we did, we got all the parts. We laid them out. We had a full discussion on where we are, what happened. That’s the first thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly in racing, you want to make sure you understand what did happen. That’s really important. What did cause? Don’t miss that. I think we’ve got that detailed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the decisions then were made by Toyota, this is what we’re going to do for this coming weekend. We feel like that we’ve made the right decisions. We kind of have discussed what did happen, and we’re convinced we made the right decisions about what’s going to take place on Sunday. So I think it’s made by Toyota and a lot of our technical people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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