Toyota Reveals Reasons for Kyle Busch Engine Issues

Two of Kyle Busch‘s past three Cup Series races have been marred by engine failures that contributed to him getting eliminated from the playoffs. Now Toyota has provided some reasons for these issues.

TRD USA President David Wilson provided some comments on the matter to NBC Sports. He explained that Busch missed an upshift at Darlington Raceway, which resulted in him hitting the rev limiter. This contributed to the engine failure during caution laps that took away an opportunity for the win.

“We have some sort of an instability in our valve train and it seems to be triggered by us running into NASCAR’s mandated rev limiter, interestingly enough,” Wilson said. “He buzzed the rev limiter hard, and a lap-and-a-half later, his engine let go. Now, just to be clear, our stuff should be durable enough. It should be tough enough to handle that.

“At Bristol, NASCAR miscalculated the gear ratio. It was too short. When Kyle, particularly when he was running that upper groove in fifth gear, he was hitting the rev limiter, almost every lap. The fact is that right now we just don’t have enough durability margin in our valve train. That’s on us.”

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Wilson Provided Further Context About the Failures

Hitting the rev limiter directly contributed to Busch’s engine failures, but this is not an issue limited to Toyota engines. There have been similar issues experienced by other manufacturers throughout the 2022 season with Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro serving as a notable example.

As Wilson explained, this is a new issue with the changes for the 2022 season. He said that shifting puts more of a load on the engines and NASCAR has lowered the mandated rev limiter from 9700 RPMs to 9200 RPMs. With the current gear ratios, the drivers are hitting the limit more frequently.

Wilson told NBC Sports that Toyota has made changes to all of the engines ahead of the trip to Texas Motor Speedway. These changes will be in place for the remainder of the 2022 playoffs, but they were put in place too late for Busch to fight for his third Cup Series championship. Instead, they will benefit Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin as they remain alive in the hunt for the drivers’ championship.

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There Were Strong Comments About Toyota After the Engine Failure

When the engine failure knocked Busch out of the Bristol race, there were a string of comments on Twitter. Many people started alleging that Toyota had purposely given the No. 18 weaker equipment as a response to him leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the season.

Wilson saw these comments, and he took offense to them. He specifically told NBC Sports that the people who believe this “conspiracy” should “go back to trying to find the edge of the flat earth.” Wilson continued and said that losing Busch in the championship battle is a “massive setback.”

Regardless of these statements, there will still be strong comments on social media from those that believe Toyota and JGR “purposely” made moves to knock Busch out of the playoffs. They will continue as the two-time Cup Series champion finishes the final seven races of the season and attempts to bring at least one more win to the Toyota family.

 

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