NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
  • Peg It on GarageMonkey
CUP: TRD To Supply Engines For Joe Gibbs Racing
Beginning next season, Joe Gibbs Racing will get its engines from Toyota Racing Development...
Jared Turner  |  Posted August 11, 2011   Charlotte, NC
Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs made the announcement that Matt Lucas has been named crew chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Nationwide Series Toyota team. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Toyota Racing Development will supply engines to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2012, officials from the two companies announced on Thursday.

JGR, which fields the Sprint Cup Series entries of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, has built its own engines out of its Huntersville, N.C.-based shop since joining NASCAR's top series in 1993.

TRD, which already supplies power to fellow Toyota team Michael Waltrip Racing, is eager to bring Toyota's flagship organization into the fold.

"Frankly, it's just a great deal for both organizations as well as Michael Waltrip Racing," said TRD boss Lee White.

JGR president J.D. Gibbs says the switch to the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based TRD from building engines in-house could help the team in its quest to achieve greater durability.

Engine life has been problematic for JGR this season and in recent past seasons.

"We're going to lean on TRD for their research, their development," Gibbs said. "We do certain things really well. ... I think TRD does probably a little bit of a longer-range approach in the way they go through their projects and the detail they have in that is something that will really benefit us.

" ... We're still going to make sure our stuff is right, consistent, durable and I think we've over the past several years done many projects together with TRD and kind of closed a lot of that, and this is kind of the last piece working forward into the future."

Gibbs added that JGR could potentially begin experimenting TRD engines later this year before the full changeover in 2012.

"They've already partnered with us there and have already given us wisdom and direction there," Gibbs said. "They've done that over the past year, so that's not new. It's not like it all of a sudden starts (in) 2012. It's already been ongoing and that partnership is already there and the help has already gone back and forth.

"I think Mark (Cronquist, JGR head engine builder) and his team, when it comes to horsepower, when it comes to performance, they're really good and I think TRD does a good job from a durability standpoint. Last couple years, they've been really good. I think for us, it's just combining that."

Gibbs said he doesn't expect the company to lose anyone in its engine shop as a result of the partnership.

"Basically, we're still going to have our motor shop. There are still projects and things that we're going to do here and we're going to kind of combine that with projects done in Costa Mesa," he said. " ... I think the good news for our guys – not one person will have to worry about being displaced from this partnership. We take all our attributes and maximize that, all TRD's and maximize that, and kind of combine them going forward. I think that will work out well.

"I think really, Mark Cronquist, he will probably travel more and some of our key guys will be on the road more as we work through the whole fuel injection system going forward in 2012."

Jared Turner is an Associate Editor for SPEED.com, covering NASCAR and Formula One, and is an Editor for TruckSeries.com. His professional motorsports writing career began in 2005.
jared.turner's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jared Turner

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2013

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.