It was supposed to be a warm-up. It might have been a warning. Three top Toyotas, two of them headed for Phoenix and a shot at the NASCAR Cup championship, all blew up Sunday at Martinsville.
Denny Hamlin, who has 20 years at Joe Gibbs Racing and 19 playoff appearances without a title, and JGR newcomer Chase Briscoe, also in the final four, both lost engines during the race along with Riley Herbst, who drives for Hamlin’s 23X1 team.
This is starting to become a bit of a concern for Toyota and particularly Hamlin, who has had some problems prior to the race at Martinsville. The week before at Talladega, Hamlin had a throttle issue. The throttle regulates the air-fuel mixture flowing to the engine which is obviously critical to the car’s performance. And before that in the Kansas race, he had trouble with his power steering.
While these issues seem unrelated, if any of them – or something else – pops up at Phoenix, Hamlin could once again be denied any chance at a championship, as has happened numerous times in the past.
“I could be worried but I can’t do anything about it so I’m still optimistic,” Hamlin told reporters at Martinsville according to NASCAR’s website.
“We’re gonna put our best foot forward and hopefully it’s enough. That’s all I can do. Our performance is good, we’re running up front,” Hamlin said. “As long as we can keep it together we’re fast and capable. I think I’m gonna have to win next week to win the championship, and we’re gonna come prepared to do that,” Hamlin declared.
Team owner Joe Gibbs said Toyota and JGR examined the faulty engine parts after the Martinsville race in an effort to determine what went wrong and correct it.
“We got all the parts out,” Gibbs said according to NASCAR.com’s website. “We looked at everything. I think issues with the motors are always concerning. You never want that to happen.
“I think we kind of understand where we are and what those parts were (that caused the engine failure) and have made adjustments. Those parts will not be in the cars this week so we feel good about that,” Gibbs declared.
Neither Gibbs nor Toyota have identified what parts failed, but it is reasonable to assume Toyota thought they were reliable when they were originally installed, and if that’s true then there’s no way to be sure replacement parts won’t break as well.
Engine failures are a rarity in NASCAR now but Gibbs’ comments, while reassuring, didn’t seem to indicate that Toyota knows for sure exactly what happened and if that’s the case, it can’t be sure something won’t happen again.
Whether or not he wins the championship, which is about the last thing Hamlin has left on his racing to-do list before he retires, possibly in two years, he has clearly been the dominant driver in Cup this year.
Extremely perceptive and with the most analytical mind in the sport, Hamlin has been able to make adjustments as he ages that has kept him on top at a time, he’s nearly 45, when almost all of his competitors would be getting out of their cars.
His six wins are the more than any driver this year and his ability to understand and get the most out of his equipment, his ability to pace himself, to know when he needs to make a move and when he doesn’t, give him a mental edge over the competition.
“I think his experience, as you know in pro sports that’s just something you can’t teach, gives him an advantage,” Gibbs, who was a Super Bowl winning coach before he went into racing, commented.
“You’ve got to experience things and he understands that,” Gibbs continued. “He works extremely hard on the sim (the racing simulator), his preparation and everything else he needs to do to get ready to race.
“That’s where his experience really means a lot,” Gibbs remarked. “He understands you’ve got to be able to get to the final four, and we’ve done that, and now it’s down to one race and you’ve got to make it happen.”
There’s no question Hamlin will do his part. The question is, as it has been in the past, whether situations beyond his control and his supporting cast will do theirs.
NASCAR NOTES
Old Guy Sport pre-playoff final four picks: Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, William Byron. Drivers in the final four: Hamlin, Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Byron.
Three most likely winners at Phoenix Sunday: 1-Blaney, 2-Hamlin, 3-Larson. First race winner at Phoenix this year: Christopher Bell. Top five in first Phoenix race: 1-Bell, 2-Hamlin, 3-Larson, 4-Josh Berry, 5-Chris Buescher.
Last week’s OGS Martinsville picks: 1-Blaney, 2-Bell, 3-Hamlin. Martinsville winner: Byron. OGS record after 29 races: 13-15 (no Pocono pick) .464.
OGS competition index top 10 after 29 races: 1-Hamlin 652 points, 2-Briscoe 507, 3-Larson 500, 4-Bell 473, 5-Blaney 465, 6-Byron 439, 7-Shane van Gisbergen 368, 8-Chase Elliott 274, 9-Bubba Wallace 186, 10-Joey Logano 185.
OGS competition index top 10 on short tracks (tracks similar to Phoenix): 1-Blaney 222, 2-Hamlin 211, 3-Byron 185, 4-Bell 161, 5-Larson 147, 6-Briscoe 122, 7-Logano 96, 8-Elliott 91, 9-Brad Keselowski 80, 10-Alex Bowman 74.
