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Joe Gibbs Racing has gone from locker-room turmoil to the brink of a NASCAR Cup championship — a turnaround its three-time Super Bowl champion namesake should appreciate. In September, JGR was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons: Veteran driver Denny Hamlin, who was in the second round of the playoffs, spun Gibbs' grandson and fellow JGR driver Ty Gibbs during a playoff race at New Hampshire. No specific details emerged on the Monday morning competition meeting at the JGR shop, but it likely wasn't the most pleasant one in NASCAR history. Suddenly, an on-track conflict in the middle of the postseason threatened to derail JGR's championship run. That was especially true after Team Penske's Ryan Blaney won the aforementioned New Hampshire race and seemed to cement himself as title favorite. But Gibbs — who won three Super Bowls as Washington head coach — is also a five-time NASCAR Cup Series champion car owner because his drivers and teams can execute when the lights are brightest, and can do so without looking in the rearview mirror. That's what Hamlin and Chase Briscoe have done over the past two weeks, with the former winning at Las Vegas and the latter winning at Talladega to clinch spots in the Championship 4. JGR Toyotas will make up at least half of the Championship 4 and could make up 3/4 of it by next week. Christopher Bell enters the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville 37 points above the cut line as he searches for his third Championship 4 berth in four seasons. With veteran Hamlin, rookie JGR driver Briscoe and rising star Bell in the title hunt — and Ty Gibbs pushing Briscoe to a Talladega win — the dark clouds over JGR just weeks ago have given way to sunshine and momentum. Teamwork comes back around for Joe Gibbs Racing Said Gibbs on Sunday during a post-race news conference: "It’s such a competitive world, kind of used to it in football, you get it, but over here we got four teams. The challenge is always trying to get them to work together. Each driver has their own career, they got their own sponsor. It becomes extremely competitive. "Sometimes you wind up with issues like that. The bottom line is we’re pretty good here, I think, about working our way through them. That’s part of sports. Guys are very competitive and want to make it happen. At different times you may have issues that you got to deal with. Certainly was proud of Ty today pushing Chase. That was great." Perhaps the best aspect of JGR's playoff run is that while Hamlin and Bell were expected to be in the thick of the Championship 4 race, Briscoe was somewhat of an unknown quantity. After four seasons with Stewart-Haas Racing, nobody was sure what Briscoe would do in his first year with an elite team. But Briscoe has looked like a championship driver this season, further validating Gibbs' decision to put him in the No. 19 Toyota that Martin Truex Jr. left behind. That begs the question: With Briscoe's stock going through the roof this season, when and for how long will JGR lock him down? "Do not suggest 10-year contracts," Gibbs said, laughing. "I think right now he can get anything he wants. I’ll put it that way." Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.
