Toyota Racing Development is taking additional measures to remedy the issues that have caused a recent rash of engine failures at Cup Series races.
Tyler Gibbs, the general manager of TRD, had stated over the weekend at Richmond Raceway the company was as comfortable as it could be going forward. Although the issues were similar in nature, analysis of each one showed all of them were caused by different things. At the time, Gibbs did not want to go into detail.
Martin Truex Jr. then blew an engine in Sunday night’s race. It was the fifth Toyota engine in the Cup Series since June.
Gibbs followed up with RACER about the issue Thursday morning saying, “If we didn’t beforehand, we certainly now have a concern with our valve springs. The root cause seems to be some inconsistency in the quality of our valve springs. We are working closely with our suppliers to correct these issues.”
The failure on Truex’s No. 19 engine at Richmond was similar to the No. 20 engine issue for Christopher Bell at St. Louis. Bell led 80 laps in the June 2 event but started to complain he was “blowing up” in the final laps.
A week later, on June 9, Denny Hamlin blew an engine at Sonoma Raceway. It happened after two laps.
— Racer —