The engines problems that plagued Joe Gibbs Racing numerous times during the 2012 Sprint Cup Series season returned at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday during the Daytona 500. Both Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch suffered engine maladies with around 50 laps to go in the “Great American Race.”
All three JGR teams had strong runs to that point of the race, running 1-2-3 at one point of the race. On Lap 149, Kenseth, who led four times for a race-high 86 laps in the No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, radioed in to his crew that he had a vibration, which ended up being terminal. Just two laps later, Busch, in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota, brought his Camry down pit road with an expired engine. Kenseth and Busch finished 37th and 34th, respectively.
Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, also led 33 laps in the race and came home 14th. Jimmie Johnson earned his second Daytona 500 victory, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman.
"It's just frustrating," said Busch after his exit. "You come down here and you have such fast race cars. All the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing built us awesome pieces. We're running 1-2-3 there and it felt like we were dropping like flies."
The Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series visit Phoenix International Raceway next weekend, March 1st through 3rd. Keep up-to-date with JGR at joegibbsracing.com.
Quotes in this piece provided by NASCAR.
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