Did Toyota Really Make Quantum Leap In Knowledge?
May 20, 2008
CIA Stock Photo, Inc.
Do this season’s successes simply validate the equipment and expertise that Toyota has had all along … or did Toyota really make this quantum leap in knowledge? Or was Toyota simply sandbagging last season, keeping some of its goodies under wraps, to avoid riling the competition?
Only Mark Cronquist, Gibbs’ veteran engine man, might know for sure, but he isn’t talking, and he’s being kept under tight wraps.
But after watching three engines fail in one weekend, Cronquist admits he got a little “greedy.”
“We got some new stuff coming and it is really good and we should’ve brought it, but we got greedy and brought more than that,” he said. “So it was just probably more my greed than anything, but you come to this race with all your guns loaded.”
After dominating the first segment of Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch faltered in the second. Attempts at repairs during the break before the third 25-lap segment were futile.
“This was a new piece and it was pretty stout and it was pretty right but just didn’t make the whole longevity here,” Busch said.
“It was a valve train problem,” Cronquist said. “We knew [the engine] was really radical. I thought it would go 300 miles, but I mean Tony’s [Stewart] went really early. Kyle and
Denny’s went longer. We have stuff at the shop and know what we have now, but this race pays too much money not to bring everything in your arsenal.”
“I was happy, you know, considering [we] had to start dead last because of engine troubles and still ended up in fifth, that’s a pretty good night for us,” Stewart said. “We didn’t do anything fancy to get ourselves to the front. Basically, where we came in the pits is where we came out of the pits every time, so we basically drove our way to this spot, and that I’m very proud of.”
You can’t get better if you don’t try stuff, Stewart added.
“It was experimental stuff and [Saturday night’s] the night to try that stuff,” he said. “When it comes time to run 600 miles next week, we can do it.”
