Daytona Engine Woes Affect Hendrick

Author: GRiPEX

Published: Wednesday Feb 13 2008 12:58pm

Engine problems have been a big issue at Daytona this week. Toyota has been dealing with a cam-lifter coating issue with their motors which surfaced in practice for the Budweiser shootout. Representatives from Toyota have said they think they have the problem solved but some teams are still waiting for replacement engines, like the #96 of JJ Yeley who missed most of the last duals practice.

During practice today, the chevrolet motors from Hendrick Motorsports started to show wear on their lifters. All Hendrick cars including the #88 of Dale Earnhardt JR and #24 of Jeff Gordon have had their motors removed for further inspection and replacement. Three of the four Hendrick satellite teams have removed their engines as well, those drivers being Kenny Wallace, Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield. Joe Nemechek who also runs a Hendrick powerplant has opted to keep his engine in, and keep his #2 starting spot in the first Gatorade Duel.

All teams are allowed to change their engine after the duals with out penalty, but teams who have replaced their engine before the duals will suffer the penalty of starting in the back of the Gatorade duals, these motor changes will not affect starting placement for the Daytona 500. The Hendrick teams are not panicking, representatives from the Hendrick motor shop said the problem will be rectified with a different lifter package. I can only guess that this means a small horsepower loss for these motors, but I really doubt it will affect the Hendrick boys dominating the front of the field.