It’s that time of year again, as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the final week of the regular season. Toyota Racing Development has some big questions to answer about their recent trend of engine issues. Especially if they want one of their drivers to contend for the Cup Championship this year. Before the race at Daytona this past weekend, Denny Hamlin ran into a little trouble with NASCAR.
TRD made it known, that Hamlin’s Bristol race-winning engine from earlier this season was never properly inspected by NASCAR. The engine in question was sealed off like most engines and used again at the Spring Darlington race. That wasn’t the big issue though for Toyota, as they then proceeded to take it back to their engine shop in California and took it apart. That’s where the team went wrong.
TRD Engine Issues Continue to Plague Playoff Chances
NASCAR was forced to take action against Hamlin and his team. Hamlin got docked major points, dropping him from the fight for the regular season title to outside the top five in the standings. Not to mention all of the playoff points he had accumulated from his three wins are nearly gone.
Hamlin addressed the penalty on a new episode of Actions Detrimental with Denny Hamlin. He understands the severity of the penalty, but already has confidence in himself and his team to get back in the hunt at Darlington and beyond.
The impact of this L2 penalty is massive, but Denny and his team are already working hard to overcome it. 💪 pic.twitter.com/uAUCsByVCW
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) August 25, 2024
“It always comes down to a few points here and there, so you know we’re just going to have to be exceptional,” Hamlin said. ” Not make any mistakes at all which is very very hard, because as good as we’ve been our results over the last several months have been atrocious.
Hamlin has been a yearly contender for the NASCAR Cup Championship. He once again finds himself backed into a corner as he tries to capture that elusive championship.
Is it a bigger problem at TRD?
Engine issues have been far less of a problem in the history of the Next-generation car, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been some form of problem for Toyota lately. All four of Joe Gibbs Racing’s cars have had an engine failure at some point this season alone. So that begs the question what is going on at TRD?
Was JGR experimenting with those engines or is it something in the construction of those engines? Given the rarity of a completely blown engine these days, it certainly was something that caught the eye, especially like what happened to Martin Truex Jr only two weeks ago at Richmond. Whatever has been going on isn’t helping Toyota’s cause to try and win a championship.
Heck, it’s been over five years since Toyota last won the NASCAR Cup Championship and that was with Kyle Busch, who isn’t even a Toyota driver anymore. TRD has a problem and it’s very clear at this moment. Just look at some of what has gone wrong for the manufacturer’s best championship contenders in recent memory.
History of Issues for Toyota in Playoffs
Hamlin himself has long had moments where he just fell short of the ultimate goal in his career, but in the last five years, some of it wasn’t his fault. 2019 is a great example, as Toyota had three cars in the Championship Four at Homestead. Sure Busch got them the crown, but Hamlin had the unfortunate ‘tape disaster’ and Truex’s team famously put the wrong tires on his car, costing both a great shot at that championship.
During the 2022 season, Busch’s final season with Gibbs had two bad engines in the first round of the playoffs. Busch had engine failures at both Darlington and Bristol. The second of which eliminated him from the playoffs. Engine issues once again showed their hand last season as Martin Truex Jr. was eliminated earlier in the playoffs than expected because of mechanical issues. Hamlin was also put behind the eight ball because of something within the car last fall.
Christopher Bell has been the one guy for JGR and Toyota who has reached the final four in the last three seasons. Who’s to say he’s safe this year? Tyler Reddick is Toyota’s best shotfor the Championship from 23XI Racing. Is he safe from an engine issue or mechanical failure from TRD? Time will tell but these problems seem to be persistent not just a coincidence.
