Cup RACE thread --- Martinsville

Hamlin and Briscoe could have got the short straws.

How TRD Handles Engine Allocation​


  • Centralized lease model: All Toyota Cup teams — 23XI, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Legacy MC (since 2024) — lease engines directly from Toyota Racing Development in Costa Mesa, CA. No team builds or services their own; TRD controls every aspect from assembly to mileage tracking.
  • Rotation pool: TRD maintains a shared pool of engines that circulates among all Toyota teams. So, a motor that starts in a Gibbs car might later end up in a 23XI or Legacy car after it’s serviced and cycled through.
  • Engine cycle plan: Typically, each engine goes through a two-race duty cycle (sometimes three), depending on track type and miles. After running its scheduled races, the engine is returned to TRD, torn down, inspected, and rebuilt for another rotation — or retired if it’s reached its service life threshold (often ~2,500 total miles).
  • Track-type matching: TRD doesn’t just rotate engines randomly. They keep detailed logs on engine performance and pair engines to track types based on past data. For example:
    • Stronger, higher-revving units get assigned to intermediates and road courses.
    • Lower-stress units are used on short tracks or plate races to extend their lifespan.
 
Spotter22 said:
Probably a little R&D going on today
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Greg said:
I would agree based who had and who didn't have the grenades.
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What would Herbst / 23XI have to gain?
StandOnIt said:
Possibly the yotas are at the end of their engine use plan mandate and they are having to use previously wrung out re-used engine blocks.
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That seems more likely than the ever-popular R&D notion. And as someone pointed out earlier, this wasn't the first engine issue Hambone has had this year.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
What would Herbst / 23XI have to gain?

That seems more likely than the ever-popular R&D notion. And as someone pointed out earlier, this wasn't the first engine issue Hambone has had this year.
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Based on the info posted by SOI, I would revise my post to, they had the most to gain by ensuring good finishes for Bell and to lesser degree for Walllace and Reddick. That's at least the end result.

Bell and Hamlin was already in the final four and Herbst is Herbst.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
What would Herbst / 23XI have to gain?

That seems more likely than the ever-popular R&D notion. And as someone pointed out earlier, this wasn't the first engine issue Hambone has had this year.
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Nascar has a mileage number they use and it ends up working out to around 13-18 engine blocks per team max a year the teams can use.
 
Greg said:
they had the most to gain by ensuring good finishes for Bell and to lesser degree for Walllace and Reddick. That's at least the end result.
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There's a lot cheaper ways to do that than blowing up. The old 'Start and Park' playbook is full of them. I recall 'Handling' was a popular one. I don't know if there's a way to confirm an alternator problem and the accompanying battery problems.

Heck, Denny speeding on pit road a couple of times would attract no attention at all. ;)
 
Greg said:
Based on the info posted by SOI, I would revise my post to, they had the most to gain by ensuring good finishes for Bell and to lesser degree for Walllace and Reddick. That's at least the end result.

Bell and Hamlin was already in the final four and Herbst is Herbst.
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From what I read about TRD's engine program, that is entirely possible. They (TRD) are in charge of who gets what engine.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
There's a lot cheaper ways to do that than blowing up. The old 'Start and Park' playbook is full of them. I recall 'Handling' was a popular one. I don't know if there's a way to confirm an alternator problem and the accompanying battery problems.

Heck, Denny speeding on pit road a couple of times would attract no attention at all. ;)
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Isnt there a restriction on how many engines or parts that can used during the season? If true wouldn't that require getting the most possibile use from every one of them.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
There's a lot cheaper ways to do that than blowing up. The old 'Start and Park' playbook is full of them. I recall 'Handling' was a popular one. I don't know if there's a way to confirm an alternator problem and the accompanying battery problems.

Heck, Denny speeding on pit road a couple of times would attract no attention at all. ;)
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Isnt there a restriction on how many engines or parts that can used during the season.? If true wouldn't that require getting the most possibile use of everyone of them.
 
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SeventyGTX said:
Funny how the two that do not need the race at all, are the ones with engine trouble?

Testing something before Phoenix perhaps?
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Honestly, can't imagine that WE would be testing something with one race to go....and WE will be racing race run engines next week. The saving grace in all of this from an engineering perspective (although I am not an engineer) is that it appears that you have some consistency in the failures....consistency in data points. If anything needs to be done, WE know what it is. If anything can be done....well, that is a different story. Honestly, I am not really worried about it.
 
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