Hamlin on Joe Gibbs Racing: 'Inching our way there'
INDIANAPOLIS – Joe Gibbs Racing's three cars finished second, third and fourth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday. Clearly, the once-struggling organization has turned the corner.
Well, maybe not.
"We'll get a lot of attention this week," third-place finisher Denny Hamlin said. "But it is just a small victory. We're still just inching our way there."
As it turns out, hogging three of the top four spots in the Brickyard 400 doesn't mean all that much when the winner -- in this case Jeff Gordon, who made history with his fifth Brickyard title -- kicks everyone's rear ends.
After finishing second, Kyle Busch said JGR's performance was improved and "certainly better than expected," but not where it needs to be yet.
"You see the guy out there in front of you, beating you, and you know you've got a lot of speed to gain," Busch said. "I don't think he even went 80% the whole last run of the race (while saving fuel) and was driving away from us.
"We have a lot of big areas to gain big speed in, then a bunch of little areas to gain a little bit of speed in, too."
Fortunately, JGR has plenty of time to do so. Busch and Hamlin already have qualified for the 16-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup thanks to early-season victories and Matt Kenseth is a virtual lock (he'll make it on points as long as there are not five new winners in the next six races before the Chase field is set).
It's been an inconsistent and unsatisfying season overall for JGR. The Hendrick-powered Chevrolets (including that of race winner Gordon) have been faster than the JGR Toyotas, as have the Team Penske Fords. And none of JGR's drivers are considered to be serious championship contenders for now – this despite Kenseth sitting fourth in the standings and Busch sixth.
Busch, who has six top-five finishes this season, went seven weeks without one in May and June. Hamlin has nearly as many finishes outside the top 15 this year (nine) as in it (10). And Kenseth hasn't won this season after scoring a series-high seven victories last year and finishing runner-up to six-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
But the team, Kenseth said, "has been gaining on it." He pointed to solid results for JGR at Kentucky (two top-fives) and New Hampshire (second, fourth and eighth) as evidence of that improvement.
"It was a good day for JGR," Kenseth said. "All our Toyotas were pretty quick. We were all top-10 cars."
The most notable performance might have been from Hamlin, who told ESPN during Saturday's qualifying session that it didn't have enough airtime for him to talk about everything that was wrong with the car.
He qualified 27th, but after 10 laps, he realized "our car was just fast" and had a surge of confidence.
"All day long, nobody really passed us," Hamlin said. "We were just faster than everyone that was around us, faster than everyone that was behind us."
But NASCAR found a problem with Hamlin's car in post-race inspection, which might lead to penalties later this week. Officials cautioned teams before the race to tape up the rear firewall block-off plates so that they wouldn't leak air; Hamlin's car apparently had a loose cover.
Still, any potential penalties are unlikely to have much of an impact on JGR's march to the Chase. The team still has six races to keep trying to gain ground on the Hendrick and Penske cars.
"Our focus all year has been to build the best race cars for September, because that's when it really, really counts," Hamlin said. "You can lead the regular season. You can have 10 wins before the Chase starts. (But) if you have one bad race or you don't run as well for those first three races of the Chase, you're out.
"We've been working hard to try to run really well all year. We really have. We've been off. But our cars are starting to turn that corner and become more competitive."
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