Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 team keeps on winning - this time with Denny Hamlin
By Rea White - Associate Editor
Thursday, July 10, 2008
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Joe Gibbs Racing is defying the myths of racing. All those elusive ingredients for team success, the intangibles that mystify owners and are often blamed for struggles within an organization, seem to be mere urban legend when it comes to this team.
Certainly, there’s talent running deep in JGR’s Nationwide Series organization. The team creates bullets in the shop. Crew members speed through efficient pit stops. Crew chief Dave Rogers rarely missteps when it comes to crucial calls.
But shouldn’t the driver have an impact here?
Isn’t team chemistry supposed to be the most treasured and most sought-after ingredient when it comes to building a top-notch program? History is filled with famous pairings. From the days of Dale Inman and Richard Petty to Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham, Tony Stewart and Greg Zipadelli and Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus, the magical relationship between a driver and crew chief is supposed to be what makes a winning team into a championship one.
Time only solidifies that relationship. More races run, more wins celebrated, more setbacks overcome. That’s what builds championship teams.
Or at least that is the conventional thinking.
JGR and Rogers defy that traditional formula.
In the July 4 Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona, Rogers helped guide Denny Hamlin and the No. 20 Toyota to victory. It was the ninth win in 18 races for the No. 20 team. Rogers has worked – and gone to victory lane – with Tony Stewart (winner of five races in the car), Hamlin (two wins), Busch and Joey Logano this season.
Certainly, that’s a talented group of drivers. Three of them have Cup wins or even championships on their résumé. But how are they all winning in the same car? What about that crucial chemistry?
“We’ve looked in the mirror a lot this year to figure out why are we running well and how do we keep it, and that chemistry word keeps coming up,” Rogers said. “I think what chemistry boils down to is trust. I think right now our team trusts that all of these drivers can get in it and win. And I think these drivers think that this team can win. I think there’s so much trust in this team that the chemistry is pretty much seamless week to week.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer, the series points leader and fourth-place finisher at Daytona, sees it a little differently.
“Not taking anything away from the talent over there and the effort that those guys put in the 20 car and stuff, but a monkey could win [in] that car,” he said. “It’s not even testing their talents right now.”
They were tested a little more at Daytona, though. At one point in the race, Hamlin dropped deep into the field when he pitted a lap later than his teammate, Busch, expected him to. That separated them in the draft and ended up with Busch near the front and Hamlin deep in the field. Hamlin immediately began making up lost ground, though.
With the laps closing down, Hamlin, Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards traded the lead, with one pair running high and another low in different combinations. They tested one another, each plotting his final move.
Then, strategy went awry. Roush Fenway Racing’s Colin Braun lost control and spun on the backstretch, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
Initially, they lined up with Hamlin in the lead, followed by Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Edwards and Bowyer. But NASCAR officials forced Edwards behind Bowyer after the scoring system placed him there (see story, page 63).
On the restart, Edwards bumped Mike Bliss and slid into the grass for an 11th-place finish. That left three drivers challenging for the lead, including Busch on Hamlin’s bumper. Busch, the winner of 12 races in three series this season, certainly isn’t known for holding back with a potential victory in sight.
“Kyle has a lot of fire in him,” Hamlin said. “He wants to win races no matter what. We had two very strong Toyotas today. I knew he could go for the win and maybe not succeed. As long as he stuck on our rear bumper there was no way we weren’t going to have a 1-2 finish.”
Hamlin, who led 29 laps in the race, went unchallenged in the green-white-checkered finish, something virtually unheard of in restrictor-plate racing at Daytona.
Not on this night.
With Hamlin in front, the only question was whether Busch would be able to pass him in the final two laps. Top Daytona contender Earnhardt Jr., a man known for his prowess on this track, was discounted to a mere afterthought. After all, no one really expects to beat that No. 20 car this year.
Busch didn’t make a move on his teammate and the front four remained in line for those final laps, giving Hamlin the win in his final race with the No. 20 team for the season. Bowyer was fourth, expanding his points lead to 202 over fifth-place finisher Brad Keselowski.
The JGR team now has a 203-point lead over Bowyer’s team in the owner standings and shows no sign of slowing down. The group may be defying tradition, but no one can question whether the formula is working.
“That 20 team is awfully hard to beat,” said Busch, who has both won with the team and lost to it while driving another car. “That’s three straight for them in restrictor-plate cars, so it’s a special car. … For them to have the type of season that they’re having, it’s just unbelievable. Whoever gets in that thing seems to win.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Denny Hamlin
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