Toyota Making Engine Changes for Pocono

By Ron Lemasters Jr.

It’s never a good thing when an engine blows during a NASCAR race, but if you’re Toyota, it’s becoming a regular occurrence. When the engines that pop take out cars running in the top five, it’s even worse. That happened last Sunday at Dover, when engines in the cars of Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. expired prematurely, robbing both drivers of top finishes for the day.

Toyota Racing Development, which builds engines for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, is taking steps to fix that by upgrading some parts and adjusting the power band for the upcoming race at Pocono.

The engine failures were the fifth and sixth of the season for TRD. Ford has four and Chevrolet just two in that span. It’s starting to add up.

TRD senior vice president David Wilson told ESPN.com on Tuesday that four of the failures -- including both at Dover and one the previous week at Charlotte -- were related to the valve train.

"We probably pushed a little too hard and we need to put margin back into our engines," Wilson said by phone from TRD headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif. "What we're doing and focusing on is durability. I have the entire group at TRD putting performance stuff on the backburner and focusing on nothing but durability."

What that will do to the power numbers is anyone’s guess. Toyota has been fast this year, with plenty of power, but the failures in just 13 races have cost the car maker at least two victories.

"Certainly, six engine failures across the first 13 races is completely unacceptable," Wilson said. "My expectation is we will get this under control. We may have to take half a step back, but clearly we've demonstrated we have plenty of speed and we can probably afford to take a step back."

The engine failures have become a focal point, especially for JGR driver Kyle Busch. Busch had an engine failure at Charlotte that robbed him of a victory, and has been vocal in his desire to see the reliability improve.

"When we have issues like this it does become a distraction," he said. "That's not a good thing. Guys should be able to have confidence in their equipment. We don't want them to drive any differently than they know how to drive. We don't want them having to baby their engines."

Pocono and Michigan have both been paved in the past few seasons, and that means the cars have more grip, More grip means that the drivers jump back to the throttle quicker and harder. Wilson said TRD is testing the engines on the Pocono configuration to give information to teams so they know in which direction they're headed.