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4B – Daily News – Tuesday, March 29, 2011 Gibbs team scrambles for answers to engine woes CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Joe Gibbs likes to say that, unlike many of his rival NASCAR team own- ers, racing is the family business and success is measured in victories and championships. Well, Coach, engine issues in each of the first five races this season is a clear sign that the family business is struggling. "It's obviously a concern, and it's one of the hardest things any team does, is build motors consistently," J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said Monday. "But I feel good about our guys because in years past, we've had similar issues come up, and have been OK. It's just going to take some homework." Not one of Joe Gibbs Racing's three Sprint Cup teams has been immune from the rash of engine problems that began with the season-opening Day- tona 500. In fairness to the JGR engine builders, it was driver error — a missed shift by Denny Hamlin — that blew the first engine of the year. But then Joey Logano's engine failed at Phoenix, Kyle Busch's blew at Las Vegas and Logano ran most of Bristol short on power. Most recently, Hamlin's engine failed 105 laps into Sunday's race at California. It led to a 39th-place finish that dropped him four spots in the standings to 21st. It would be easy to say there's no cause for worry about Hamlin, especially with the series heading this weekend to Martinsville Speedway. A four-time Martinsville winner, includ- ing the last three races, Hamlin should be fine at a track where engines are not usually an issue. But since reliability — specifically, a lack of it — is the JGR issue, he can't be certain his engine will last an entire race. "For some reason, our stuff is struggling to (stay) together," Hamlin said Sun- day. What's puzzling is that JGR can't get a handle on the problem, which is origi- nating in the valve train. Parts seem to be breaking in the engines of all three JGR cars on a weekly basis, forc- ing repairs the morning of the races and, in some cases, last-minute engine changes. "If it were just one issue, OK, it's one fix," J.D. Gibbs said. "But when you have several different issues, it's more difficult. We've already corrected some, but there's different concerns and different projects. Some are easy and some are more involved." In any case, this is unac- ceptable for an organization that expects to compete for championships every year, and it apparently led to a contentious team meeting with Joe Gibbs after the Las Vegas race. But Sunday showed that nothing has improved in the two weeks since, and the ones suffering are the drivers. Busch and Hamlin are legitimate title contenders, and Hamlin waged a furious title fight with Jimmie John- son last season before falling short in the season finale. So JGR came into the year expecting Busch and Hamlin to both race for the title, and for Logano to grab one of the 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship. The drivers have the tal- ent, and the crews are clear- ly building competitive race cars, but it wouldn't matter if they were piloting rocket ships if the equipment can't make it to the checkered flag. Busch, who led a race- high 151 of 200 laps Sun- day to ironically earn JGR head engineer Mark Cron- quist the "engine builderof the race" award, said he knows the engine shop is working hard to get a handle on the problems. "It's not like you'll find something and maybe get it fixed in a week, but we cer- tainly wish we would have been able to get it done by now," Busch said. "I know Mark is doing the best he can. We'll work on it. That's all I can say." But the organization doesn't exactly have a repu- tation for the quick fix. Mechanical problems have plagued JGR teams in the past, and victories have often been the Band-Aid that covers many of those ailments. Things can't be that bad when a team is win- ning races, right? Wrong. Fuel mileage issues plagued the team all of last year, and despite the glaring deficiency, the prob- lem clearly had not been solved by season's end. While many argue that the cockiness of Hamlin and crew chief Mike Ford cost them the championship last season, the title may actual- ly have been lost because Hamlin's fuel mileage was- n't as good as Johnson's in the next-to-last race of the year. Fast-forward to this sea- son and there's no evidence of improvement in the fuel mileage category. Consider that crew chief Dave Rogers was telling Busch, who had dominated Sunday's race before fading to third, to conserve gas in case of unplanned extra laps. Many, including Hamlin, have assumed that Toyota will help JGR sort out its issues. But it's much more complicated than simply asking the California-based engineers for assistance. Toyota Racing Develop- ment builds the engines for Michael Waltrip Racing and Red Bull Racing, but JGR does everything in house. Paranoia, competitive advantage and trademark protection are the likely rea- CIT Semifinals Iona 83, East Tennessee State 80 Santa Clara 72, SMU 55 Championship Wednesday Santa Clara at Iona, 4 p.m. sons why the two entities don't freely exchange infor- mation, so it's not as if TRD can simply figure out what needs to be fixed. And while it may be easy to blame a Toyota part here or there for JGR's problems, it would be a hard argument to win given that engine fail- ures haven't been an issue for the Red Bull and Waltrip cars this season. Nope, the only engines breaking are from a champi- onship-caliber team that can't put a finger on what's going on. "It's of the same nature, but not the same problem every single time. That's what's so questionable NIT Semifinals At Madison Square Garden New York Today’s games Wichita St.vs.Washington St., 4 p.m., ESPN2 Colorado vs. Alabama, 6:30 p.m., ESPN2 about it — what the heck is going on?" Hamlin asked. "We've got our work cut out for us. We need to prove at this point that we can finish a race." FINAL FOUR National Semifinals At Reliant Stadium Houston Saturday’s games Butler vs.Virginia Commonwealth, 3:09 p.m. Kentucky vs. Connecticut, following MLS WESTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Salt Lake 2 0 0 6 5 1 Colorado 2 0 0 6 4 1 Galaxy 1 1 1 4 3 5 Vancouver 1 1 0 3 4 3 QUAKES 11 0 3 2 1 Seattle 0 2 1 1 1 3 FC Dallas 0 1 1 1 1 3 Chivas USA 0 2 0 0 2 4 Portland 0 2 0 0 1 5 EASTERN CONFERENCE WL T Pts GF GA Philadelphia 2 0 0 6 2 0 Chicago 1 0 1 4 4 3 New England 1 0 1 4 3 2 New York 1 0 1 4 1 0 D.C. 1 1 0 3 4 3 WOMENS Regional Championships Monday’s results DAYTON REGIONAL Notre Dame 73, Tennessee 59 SPOKANE REGIONAL Stanford 83, Gonzaga 60 Today’s games PHILADELPHIA REGIONAL CBI Best-of-3 Championship Series Game 1 Monday Creighton 84, Oregon 76 Game 2 Wednesday Creighton at Oregon, 7 p.m. Connecticut vs. Duke, 4 p.m., ESPN DALLAS REGIONAL Texas A&M vs.Baylor, 6 p.m., ESPN NHL NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL Pct GB NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Leaders 1. Carl Edwards 2. Ryan Newman 178 3. Kurt Busch 4. Kyle Busch 187 177 5. Jimmie Johnson 173 6. Tony Stewart 7. Paul Menard 176 170 8. Juan Pablo Montoya 161 9. Kevin Harvick 10. Matt Kenseth 164 157 157 11. Kasey Kahne 157 12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 156 13. Martin Truex Jr. 147 14. Mark Martin 15. A J Allmendinger 137 16. Jeff Gordon 17. Clint Bowyer 147 130 122 18. Bobby Labonte 121 19. Marcos Ambrose 121 20. Greg Biffle 21. Denny Hamlin 112 22. David Ragan 23. Brad Keselowski 107 24. Brian Vickers 25. Jeff Burton 26. David Gilliland 101 27. David Reutimann 100 28. Jamie McMurray 97 29. Joey Logano 30. Regan Smith 31. Bill Elliott 93 92 82 32. Robby Gordon 69 33. Casey Mears 34. Andy Lally 35. Dave Blaney 36. Tony Raines 37. Terry Labonte 38. J.J.Yeley 39. Ken Schrader 40. Michael McDowell 9 41. Dennis Setzer 42. Michael Waltrip 4 43. Brian Keselowski 3 Upcoming Schedule April 3 — Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500, Ridgeway, Va. April 9 — Samsung Mobile 500, Fort Worth, Texas April 17 — Aaron's 499, Talladega, Ala. April 30 — Crown Royal Presents The Matthew & Daniel Hansen 400, Richmond, Va. 6 67 61 58 52 30 20 11 119 111 105 103 y-Lakers 53 20 .726 — Phoenix 36 36 .500 16.5 WARRIORS 32 42 .432 21.5 Clippers 29 45 .392 24.5 KINGS 20 52 .278 32.5 Southwest Division WL Pct GB x-S. Antonio 57 17 .770 — x-Dallas 52 21 .712 4.5 New Orleans 42 32 .568 15 Memphis 41 33 .554 16 Houston 38 35 .521 18.5 Northwest Division WL Pct GB x-Okla. City 48 24 .667 — Denver 44 29 .603 4.5 Portland 43 31 .581 6 Utah Minnesota 17 57 .230 32 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL Pct GB y-Boston 51 22 .699 — Philadelphia 38 36 .514 13.5 New York 36 38 .486 15.5 New Jersey 23 49 .319 27.5 Toronto 20 53 .274 31 Southeast Division WL Pct GB x-Miami 51 22 .699 — x-Orlando 47 27 .635 4.5 x-Atlanta 42 32 .568 9.5 Charlotte 31 42 .425 20 Washington 18 55 .247 33 Central Division WL Pct GB y-Chicago 53 20 .726 — Indiana 33 42 .440 21 Milwaukee 29 44 .397 24 Detroit 26 47 .356 27 Cleveland 14 58 .194 38.5 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ————————————————— Monday’s results Charlotte 87, Milwaukee 86 Indiana 107, Boston 100 New York 113, Orlando 106, OT Philadelphia 97, Chicago 85 Portland 100, San Antonio 92 Washington 100, Utah 95, OT Today’s games Golden State at Okla.City,5 p.m.,CSNB Phoenix at Sacramento, 7 p.m.,CSNC Houston at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Miami at Cleveland, 4 p.m., NBATV 36 39 .480 13.5 WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Division WL OT Pts GF GA SHARKS 44 23 9 97 224 199 Phoenix 41 25 11 93 219 212 Kings 43 26 6 92 207 181 Ducks 42 28 5 89 214 217 Dallas 38 26 10 86 208 210 Central Division WL OT Pts GF GA Detroit 44 22 10 98 244 216 Nashville 41 25 10 92 202 179 Chicago 41 26 8 90 242 206 St. Louis 34 32 9 77 212 219 Columbus 33 31 11 77 200 230 Northwest Division WL OT Pts GF GA y-Vancouver 50 17 9 109 247 175 Calgary 38 28 11 87 235 226 Minnesota 35 32 8 78 188 213 Colorado 28 38 8 64 207 262 Edmonton 23 41 11 57 180 249 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division WL OT Pts GF GA x-Philadelphia 45 20 10 100 238 200 x-Pittsburgh 45 23 8 98 218 183 N.Y.Rangers 41 30 5 87 218 181 New Jersey 34 36 5 73 155 189 N.Y.Islanders 29 35 12 70 210 241 Northeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA x-Boston 42 23 10 94 226 178 Montreal 40 29 7 87 200 196 Buffalo 38 28 9 85 222 210 Toronto 34 32 10 78 201 232 Ottawa 29 37 10 68 175 233 Southeast Division WL OT Pts GF GA x-Washington 44 22 10 98 205 182 Tampa Bay 40 24 11 91 223 228 Carolina 35 30 10 80 211 224 Atlanta 32 31 12 76 210 246 Florida 29 36 11 69 185 209 x-clinched playoff spot y-clinched division ————————————————— Monday’s results Chicago 3, Detroit 2, OT Colorado at Anaheim, late Today’s games Buffalo at Toronto, 4 p.m. Carolina at Washington, 4 p.m. Florida at Columbus, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Atlanta at Montreal, 4:30 p.m. Chicago at Boston, 4:30 p.m., VS Ottawa at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Minnesota at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Vancouver at Nashville, 5 p.m. Los Angeles at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Dallas at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Kansas City 1 1 0 3 5 5 Toronto FC 1 1 0 3 4 4 Houston 0 1 1 1 1 2 Columbus 0 1 1 1 1 3 ————————————————— Saturday’s results San Jose 2, FC Dallas 0 Chicago 3, Sporting Kansas City 2 Columbus 0, New York 0, tie Colorado 1, Chivas USA 0 New England 2, D.C. 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