Despite all their on-track dominance and race wins in recent years, Joe Gibbs Racing last won a Cup Series title way back in 2019, when Kyle Busch won his second championship. Incredibly, JGR had three out of the four cars in the Championship 4 that year, a culmination of the dominant season that Toyota had. And if TRD President David Wilson is to be believed, 2024 could prove to be a repeat.
Advertisement
Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Wilson talked about the blistering start to 2024 for JGR. Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell have already sealed their playoff spots, with Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs both in the top 4 in the points standings on the back of consistent Top-5 finishes.
“We look at where we have been at this point of the season in previous years and not to overstate it, we haven’t had this strong of a start since 2019, and 2019 was the year when we won half the races, and put another championship under our belt with Kyle Busch.”
A Toyota car has led a lap in all seven races of the season so far, and in almost all of the races, one of the cars has contended for a win.
“We have strong cars across the board; it’s not just the #11 car or the #20 car. Any given week we see a couple of Toyotas up there battling and of course, Sunday night at Richmond was a perfect example of that.”
“Martin had that race won, but then didn’t. But we had another strong car in the #11 and the #11 pit crew who gave him a chance to steal it; Denny did what he needed to do, and another Toyota finishes out front,” Wilson concluded.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Championship 4 woes since 2019
After 2019, it has been a tale of regular-season dominance and post-season misery for Joe Gibbs Racing.
In 2020, after a dominant season with 7 wins, Denny Hamlin fell short at the final stage, finishing 4th in the standings, with Chase Elliott taking the crown. 2021 saw both Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin getting to the finale at Phoenix, but both finished behind HMS’ Kyle Larson in the Championship 4 race.
2022 saw a heartbreaking end to Denny Hamlin’s year, with Ross Chastain’s Martinsville heroics denying the #11 driver a fourth consecutive shot at the title. Christopher Bell lost out to Joey Logano, who took his second Cup title. In 2023, Bell suffered from a brake rotor failure, ending his Championship charge early in the finale, leading the way for Ryan Blaney to win his first Cup Series.
