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Five engine changes…to the back UPDATE:

February 28, 2009 at 12:00 AM

#18-Kyle Busch blew a motor in his Toyota during Friday’s practice session, changed the engine, then ran a pole-winning lap of 185.995 mph to knock his big brother off the pole. #2-Kurt Busch ran a lap at 185.707 mph. But under NASCAR rules, Kyle Busch will have to drop to the back of the field at the start of Sunday’s race. Third-place qualifier will slide onto the front row next to Kurt Busch during the warm-up laps. #00-David Reutimann and #47-Marcos Ambrose qualified fourth and fifth, but also had to change their motors after their laps and will drop to the back of the field. #83-Brian Vickers, who won the pole last week at California but had to forfeit it because of an engine change, and his teammate #82-Scott Speed also switched motors Friday. In all, five Toyota teams switched motors Friday.(AP/ESPN)(2-27-2009)
UPDATE: Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, said some of the Sprint Cup Toyota teams have serious concerns about an engine wear issue that has caused problems the last two weeks. White said four Toyota teams were forced to change engines Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway because of the issue with this generation of the motors. Two of the cars making changes are the Red Bull Team Racing entries — the #82 Camry driven by Scott Speed and the #83 Toyota driven by Brian Vickers. The other two are the #47 Toyota driven by Marcus Ambrose and the #00 Camry driven by David Reutimann. “It’s embarrassing,” White said. “Whatever conditions we’ve created ourselves, stupidly, we suspect it’s a wear issue between the cam shaft and lubricant. It’s either a lack of lubrication, too much lubrication, not enough coating, whatever.” The team of pole winner Kyle Busch in the #18 Toyota also changed an engine Friday, but White said that was an unrelated issue. All five cars will move to the back of the field to start the Shelby 427 Sunday. “This is something the drivers don’t notice,” White said. “What we see first is a lash widening up on one cylinder or the lifters slowly wearing away. Once that starts, it’s hell and gone. You can’t stop it.” White said the problem first came to light last week before the Cup race at Fontana, Calif. Vickers won the pole at Auto Club Speedway, but was forced to start in the back after the engine problem was discovered. Michael Waltrip had the same issue after qualifying at ACS and changed his engine. Neither driver had a problem during the Auto Club 500. “That clouded my view of the whole situation,” White said. “I was confident in my people, but I guess I’m willing to say now we went the wrong direction.” White said all the Toyota teams have taken precautions and made changes for Sunday’s race. “We’re using a little heavier lubrication to not try to squeeze every last horsepower out of them in the race,” White said. “The adjustments we’ve made are four or five horsepower, but that’s not insignificant. No driver would give that up willingly. Our goal right now is to give them the best shot to get to the end [of the race].” Joe Gibbs Racing — the cars of Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano — is the only Toyota team that builds it’s engine in house, using Toyota parts. All other Toyota teams use engines built at TRD in Torrance, Calif. White met with three NASCAR officials Saturday morning — president Mike Helton, vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and Cup series director John Darby — to explain the problem.(ESPN)(2-28-2009)