DOVER, DEL. (AP) - Matt Kenseth went from holding the lead at Dover to having his car in the garage.
Kenseth’s race ended Sunday because of a blown engine about halfway through the 400-mile race. Kenseth, who has three wins this season, said all he knew was that something broke in the engine. The No. 20 Toyota was smoking in the garage as owner Joe Gibbs came out to survey the damage.
Joe Gibbs Racing has battled Toyota engine issues at other times this season. Kenseth led a race-high 86 laps before he went to pit road with an engine problem in the Daytona 500. Kyle Busch was right behind him with a blown engine.
Busch also had engine failure last week at Charlotte.
Kenseth said Toyota Racing Development needed to get the problems “fixed soon.”
“I can’t be any easier on it than I’ve been on it, so something is wrong,” Kenseth said. “It’s not driver induced; it’s not too many miles in practice. It’s nothing like that. Something is wrong with a part and it broke.”
Gibbs and Kenseth were severely penalized for an illegal part in the engine after Kenseth’s win at Kansas. The penalties were later greatly reduced on appeal.
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