Joe Gibbs Racing has gone from locker-room turmoil to the brink of a NASCAR Cup championship — a turnaround its three-time Super Bowl champion namesake should appreciate.
In September, JGR was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons: Veteran driver Denny Hamlin, who was in the second round of the playoffs, spun Gibbs’ grandson and fellow JGR driver Ty Gibbs during a playoff race at New Hampshire. No specific details emerged on the Monday morning competition meeting at the JGR shop, but it likely wasn’t the most pleasant one in NASCAR history.
Suddenly, an on-track conflict in the middle of the postseason threatened to derail JGR’s championship run. That was especially true after Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney won the aforementioned New Hampshire race and seemed to cement himself as title favorite.
But Gibbs — who won three Super Bowls as Washington head coach — is also a five-time NASCAR Cup Series champion car owner because his drivers and teams can execute when the lights are brightest, and can do so without looking in the rearview mirror. That’s what Hamlin and Chase Briscoe have done over the past two weeks, with the former winning at Las Vegas and the latter winning at Talladega to clinch spots in the Championship 4.
JGR Toyotas will make up at least half of the Championship 4 and could make up 3/4 of it by next week. Christopher Bell enters the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville 37 points above the cut line as he searches for his third Championship 4 berth in four seasons.
With veteran Hamlin, rookie JGR driver Briscoe and rising star Bell in the title hunt — and Ty Gibbs pushing Briscoe to a Talladega win — the dark clouds over JGR just weeks ago have given way to sunshine and momentum.
Teamwork comes back around for Joe Gibbs Racing
Said Gibbs on Sunday during a post-race news conference: