One of these Joe Gibbs Racing drivers is not like the others. And that was never more evident than it was on Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
JGR has three teams in the Round of 12 as the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs heats up. Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell swept the opening round to secure their spots in the Round of 12, and entered the Mobil 1 301 as the organization to beat, having won the three previous races at New Hampshire.
For the organization’s fourth driver, Ty Gibbs, NHMS provided the opportunity to finish what he’d started the previous weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. He dominated, leading 201 laps before a late issue and a tire gamble that didn’t quite pay off cost him a shot at his first career Cup win.
In his third full season at the Cup level, Gibbs has often looked like that win was just around the corner, but it hasn’t materialized.
The weekend didn’t go to plan to begin with, with the JGR Toyotas outclassed in qualifying and once the race got rolling.
On Sunday, with just over 100 laps complete in the race, Gibbs was running 11th in the second stage with Hamlin and Bell battling for the same real estate. Hamlin probably had a faster car, but Gibbs had track position and raced Hamlin and Bell hard to keep it.
In what looked to be a moment of frustration on Hamlin’s part, the No. 11 dived inside of the No. 54, and then Hamlin appeared to nudge the left rear quarter panel of Gibbs’ car, sending him spinning and bringing out a caution.
“What the f*** is he doing?” said an obviously exasperated Hamlin on his team’s radio. “Are they afraid to talk to him? That’s what I feel like, they’re scared of him.”
Gibbs, meanwhile, responded to the incident with simply “Game on.”
He got back on track, but a broken toe link sent him back to the garage soon after. NASCAR only gives teams one chance to make repairs after an incident, so his day was over. Gibbs made the mandatory trip to the infield care center.
When asked about the spin, Gibbs wouldn’t engage with reporters. “Yeah, it’s unfortunate but I’m excited to go race next week and I’m looking forward to it.”
When asked about Hamlin’s stance that someone in the organization needed to speak to Gibbs, Gibbs replied, “Yeah, we’ll have a good race next week. I’m looking forward to it.”
Hamlin went on to finish 12th, with a pair of stage points from the second stage.
After the race, Hamlin didn’t go into much detail about the contact.
“It’s super unfortunate he got spun there and obviously the contact came from us,” Hamlin said after the race. “Yeah, I don’t have any other comment other than that. Just had some contact into (turn) 1. It was obviously a really rough race before that.”
When asked if he’d have a conversation with Gibbs this week, Hamlin didn’t commit.
“Well, I mean, we’ll work through it and all, but just — we’ll see how it goes. But honestly, it’s unfortunate the contact happened.”
While he admitted the contact came from his car, Hamlin’s assertion that the contact was “unfortunate” seemed to lay the blame for the incident back at Gibbs’ feet.
The incident highlighted the disparity between playoff drivers and what they expect from drivers outside the title hunt. Hamlin clearly felt that Gibbs was racing him too hard, while Gibbs was upset with Hamlin for causing the spin.
It also raises the question of whether Hamlin and his young teammate will coexist for the remainder of the playoffs with their different goals. It’s unlikely that NASCAR will get involved as while Hamlin’s turning into Gibbs looked intentional, it wasn’t blatant enough for the sanctioning body to step in.
That leaves the drivers—and JGR management—to work it out among themselves. It’s unlikely that the feud will continue with a title on the line for Joe Gibbs, but budding resentment within the organization could keep things tense for a while.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.