During Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, Denny Hamlin spun teammate Ty Gibbs, leading to fallout at Joe Gibbs Racing, and fresh debate regarding the team’s approach to on-track incidents.
Hamlin who’s chasing a championship later said over the radio he was frustrated with “some teammate bulls**t” and called the spin an accident.
He also said “Does Ty know we’re going for a championship? What the [expletive]?” Hamlin radioed to his team. “Are they afraid to talk to him? That’s what I feel like , they’re scared of him.”
Gibbs who qualified 13th and was out of the playoff hunt, didn’t let it go quietly. He recently reposted on his Instagram story a Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour clip questioning if the wreck could derail Hamlin’s title run.
After the race, Joe Gibbs was asked about it and downplayed the need for intervention. “Those guys are the ones driving the cars. Those guys will get together on their own and figure it out,” he said.
But with Hamlin chasing a title and Gibbs carrying the weight of his family name on the team, the incident has raised bigger questions about how JGR should handle intra-team conflict. Because there is a potential championship at the end. One that not only benefits the driver, but the crew and the entire team.
NASCAR Analysts Weigh in on Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs Incident at New Hampshire
NBC analyst Steve Letarte said it’s up to the owner: “I think it really comes down to the owner. The opinion that matters is the man who has his name on the building.” His point highlighted the organizational impact if Hamlin’s title bid were to suffer from team turmoil.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Dale Jr. Download, went after Gibbs for racing his veteran teammate. “Was it necessary for Denny to wreck him into the wall? Yeah, probably not. But damn it, gotta look at Ty’s history. He’s not been a great teammate at times.”
Earnhardt Jr. said if he were in Gibbs’ shoes he would have yielded: “If I’m racing my teammate and he’s in the playoffs and I’m not. Like, I’m not even thinking about him in the car. I’m letting him go because all of his crew, his crew chief, the engineer, the team owner, all of the employees of the team, like the team manager, GM, everybody who’s present is seeing this. I mean, I’m totally gonna make myself as****e by running him hard, even for a couple corners.”
For Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s all eyes on Kansas now. If Ty Gibbs continues to run Denny Hamlin hard he’ll need to set rules on yielding to playoff drivers. Insiders say ownership intervention is reserved for moments like this, when a team’s championship run could be put in jeopardy by internal conflict.
Hamlin’s championship bid requires unity across JGR. Especially since the team #11 suspensions start this week, which will only make thogns harder for them. If teammates don’t get in sync, the “teammate bulls**t” Hamlin was frustrated with on Sunday could become a big problem for the whole organization.
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