KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Following the incident between teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs, calm has returned to Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin, who is competing in the playoffs for his first Cup Series championship, had a run-in with Gibbs, grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, whom Hamlin bumped after Gibbs didn’t move aside in New Hampshire. After the contact on the track, Hamlin asked his team radio if the organization was afraid to give team orders to the 22-year-old young driver.
Hamlin admitted that “there were things he should have done differently”. His teammate, Christopher Bell, pointed out that the message was clear and that it was not necessary to say how Toyota drivers should race each other at this time of year, with six races remaining to crown the champion.I definitely got too angry and went too far on my part.
Denny Hamlin
Meanwhile, Chase Briscoe, also a JGR driver, earned his seventh pole position of the year to lead the grid on Sunday in Kansas. He will start alongside Hamlin. Briscoe’s seven poles are the most in a single season since Kyle Busch in 2017. Briscoe and Hamlin will likely race cleanly at the start, something that Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports driver, believes is the right thing to do. Larson believes Gibbs ran too hard against a title contender who is also his teammate, at a point too early in last week’s race.We shouldn’t crash. That was very clear and obviously incorrect and I hope it doesn’t happen again. I think it was already clear to us before, and we just need to respect each other.
Christopher Bell
Larson stated that the expectations for how Hendrick’s drivers should race are clearly defined and evident on the track every week. And he added:I think in the end, if you’re running for a win, you’re running for a win. You’re never going to give up a win in the Cup Series for a teammate. But I think if you’re running in the middle of the pack in a stage, yes, that expectation should be followed.
Kyle Larson
Larson went on to say that he hoped the situation between Hamlin and Gibbs would be resolved after the conversations they had during the week.I think you’re always looking for what you can do to make things a little easier on your teammates. Television probably doesn’t even see the teamwork that happens, but, like last week, Alex Bowman gave me a lot of breaks at the end of the first stage. I passed him and then I was starting to die.
Kyle Larson
