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Most of you watched this past weekend as all three of the Joe Gibbs Racing cars went “up in smoke” (sorry for the pun, couldn’t resist) at some point while either getting ready for, or during the All-Star Challenge. It all started on Friday when Tony Stewart blew up in practice and the team was forced to change engines in the car overnight, resulting in a dead last starting position for Smoke. Then, on Saturday night during the race itself, after dominating the first segment of the race, Kyle Busch’s engine blew during the second segment, ultimately ending his evening. Then, the third engine gave in when Denny Hamlin’s motor had issues with the valve train as he led the fourth and final segment of the race. In fact, the only engine that held up over the weekend that the JGR crew put under one of their hoods was the replacement engine for Stewart that helped guide him to a fifth place finish despite his shoddy starting position.

It’s been no secret that JGR has had its share of bad luck this year, whether it be tire issues or mechanical – most notably, the fuel pickup problem that Hamlin suffered earlier in the season that robbed him of a win at Bristol. For those of you worried that this could be more of the same, however, you can rest easy knowing that the rotten luck that the team suffered this past weekend in Charlotte was self-inflicted and nothing more than a bit of greed from the team’s engine department.

Several reports have indicated that Gibbs opted not to go with their standard engine stock that they use each week from Toyota Racing Development, and instead decided to use their own engines. The results were dissatisfying, no doubt, but the team felt that this was the week to try to pull of such a feat and really don’t seem to shaken by their lackluster performances.

Mark Conquist, the head engine builder at Joe Gibbs Racing, stated, “We got some new stuff coming and it’s really good, and we should have brought it. But, we got greedy and brought more than that. So, it was probably just more my greed than anything, but you come to this race with all your guns loaded.”

Two-time Cup Series Champion, Tony Stewart, simply added, “You can’t get better if you don’t try stuff. It was experimental stuff and [that] was the night to try that stuff. When it comes time to run 600 miles next week, we can do it.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Gibbs Goes With Their Own