Kevin Harvick’s level of concern is growing after a Joe Gibbs Racing car suffered engine trouble for the second consecutive week.
First, Christopher Bell’s car puttered to the finish after racing for the win in Illinois, and Denny Hamlin wasn’t as fortunate in Sonoma, as his No. 11 Toyota gave out on him during the first couple of laps on Sunday afternoon.
During the latest episode of his Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Harvick revealed whether JGR should be worried about the inside of their cars moving forward, and if the pattern is one their drivers should be aware of this weekend during NASCAR’s trip to Iowa.
“I think there has to be some level of concern,” Harvick said, regarding JGR’s recent engine issues. “When you have that happen two weeks in a row, with Denny Hamlin’s comments after the race, about the high RPMs that we had at Sonoma. High RPMs that they had at St. Louis. We’ve got Watkins Glen. We’ve got the Roval. We’ve got Chicago. We’ve got race tracks that are going to have some high RPMs that they still have to race at.
“So, I think you have to have some sort of concern, for what’s happening with those two engines, and if it wasn’t two weeks in a row, maybe not. But definitely, I would put that in the question mark category, as to whether that’s a good situation or not.”
Evidently, Harvick is more questioning the reasoning for JGR’s problems, rather than willing to launch a full-scale investigation, but the former NASCAR Cup Series champion has a working theory for the teams issues at the moment.
“I think the other interesting thing too is a lot of these guys have been trying to play catch-up, with the no-lift shift thing, like the Fords have had. I think Toyota is down that road,” Harvick added. “Whether they were utilizing that or not is questionable.
“But when you get into that rev-limiter, and you start to get those high RPMs, and start to touch the rev-limiter, whether you’re using that strategy or not, even if you’re hitting that rev-limiter, it makes the valve-chain do some funny things, and that’s when the valve springs start to be unhappy.”
For Joe Gibbs Racing’s sake, Iowa Speedway must bring better technical performances from their team, or there might be bigger issues than what we’ve seen thus far. With their season possessing so much potential, that would be a disaster for one of NASCAR’s premier teams.
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