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Sprint Cup
CUP: Spotlight On Hamlin, Grubb At JGR
Joe Gibbs Racing is looking for a turnaround this year...
Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota, speaks with the media during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
While every NASCAR Sprint Cup team has to deal with continual pressure, at Joe Gibbs Racing, the intensity is even higher than normal this year.
With three Cup championships between 2000-05, JGR has been one of the sport’s elite teams of the past decade. But 2011 was a relative nightmare season, with 16 engine failures, the fewest race victories as a team since 2005 and Kyle Busch’s well-publicized problems on and off track. The fact that none of the three JGR drivers even came close to contending for a title last year was a huge disappointment.
In fact, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano all had worse 2011 seasons than they had in 2010, and the normally super stable team had an unusually high level of turnover in the off-season.
Hamlin’s longtime crew chief Mike Ford was fired in favor of Darian Grubb, who won last year’s title with Tony Stewart. Also gone is Greg Zipadelli, who after 13 years as a crew chief at JGR, moved over to Stewart-Haas Racing as competition director. He will be replaced as Logano’s crew chief by Jason Ratcliff.
Add the conversion from in-house engines to factory Toyota powerplants built by TRD, U.S.A., and JGR is tackling an awful lot of change for 2012. And change is decidedly not the norm for this family outfit.
“It wasn’t what we had hoped for, but it was still in a lot of ways a successful year,” said team President J.D. Gibbs of the team’s 2011 campaign. “And we were able to learn a lot — what not to do again.”
A major part of the onus for returning to form will fall squarely on the shoulders of Hamlin, who lost the 2010 championship at the last race of the season, then slipped into a deep funk for much of last year. It was Hamlin who asked that Ford replaced and it was Hamlin who asked for changes in the team’s technical direction.
Hamlin insisted he’s up to the challenge with his reorganized crew, including new spotter Chris Lambert, who replaces Curtis Markham.
“Our team’s going to look totally different,” Hamlin said. “Even though there’s just a few changes here and there, it’s going to be a totally different race team, I feel like. I’ve got two different people speaking in my ear (Grubb and Lambert) and we’ve got a lot of energy in the shop. I know you hear that a lot, but we’ve gone through some big changes with our team and it’s obviously got people excited.”
The biggest change, of course, is Grubb, the engineering graduate from Virginia Tech, who is much closer in age to Hamlin than Ford was. And he’s closer in temperament, too.
“He’s just down to earth and he works really well with our team,” J.D. Gibbs said of Grubb. “He’s a good fit.”
According to Hamlin, signing Grubb was critical to the team’s 2012 prospects.
“It was big for us, because he had so many good options,” said Hamlin. “He had an offer from every race team in the garage area. For him to pick me as his driver and continuing to want to be a crew chief, is a big deal. He gives you the faith that the guy’s got a lot of faith in your talents and that you can bring him another championship.”
Hamlin said that to finally seal the deal and win his first Cup title, he’s going to have to become a better driver this season.
“There’s a lot of things that are going to be different,” Hamlin said. “I’ve got to be a little bit more aware of what’s going on with my feedback. I think at times, I’ve kind of took for granted that Mike kind of always just knew what I needed at certain times.”
As for Grubb, who was told midway through the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup that he would not be back at SHR this year, he said he’s good to go, too.
“The guys are patting me on the back and they’re excited about having me on board,” said Grubb of his new JGR teammates. “It’s great for me to be here as part of this large organization. They’ve put a lot of faith in me and my thoughts. We’re all working together really well and communicating what we want to do as the three race teams. ... It’s been a great relationship so far.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
With three Cup championships between 2000-05, JGR has been one of the sport’s elite teams of the past decade. But 2011 was a relative nightmare season, with 16 engine failures, the fewest race victories as a team since 2005 and Kyle Busch’s well-publicized problems on and off track. The fact that none of the three JGR drivers even came close to contending for a title last year was a huge disappointment.
In fact, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano all had worse 2011 seasons than they had in 2010, and the normally super stable team had an unusually high level of turnover in the off-season.
Hamlin’s longtime crew chief Mike Ford was fired in favor of Darian Grubb, who won last year’s title with Tony Stewart. Also gone is Greg Zipadelli, who after 13 years as a crew chief at JGR, moved over to Stewart-Haas Racing as competition director. He will be replaced as Logano’s crew chief by Jason Ratcliff.
Add the conversion from in-house engines to factory Toyota powerplants built by TRD, U.S.A., and JGR is tackling an awful lot of change for 2012. And change is decidedly not the norm for this family outfit.
“It wasn’t what we had hoped for, but it was still in a lot of ways a successful year,” said team President J.D. Gibbs of the team’s 2011 campaign. “And we were able to learn a lot — what not to do again.”
A major part of the onus for returning to form will fall squarely on the shoulders of Hamlin, who lost the 2010 championship at the last race of the season, then slipped into a deep funk for much of last year. It was Hamlin who asked that Ford replaced and it was Hamlin who asked for changes in the team’s technical direction.
Hamlin insisted he’s up to the challenge with his reorganized crew, including new spotter Chris Lambert, who replaces Curtis Markham.
“Our team’s going to look totally different,” Hamlin said. “Even though there’s just a few changes here and there, it’s going to be a totally different race team, I feel like. I’ve got two different people speaking in my ear (Grubb and Lambert) and we’ve got a lot of energy in the shop. I know you hear that a lot, but we’ve gone through some big changes with our team and it’s obviously got people excited.”
The biggest change, of course, is Grubb, the engineering graduate from Virginia Tech, who is much closer in age to Hamlin than Ford was. And he’s closer in temperament, too.
“He’s just down to earth and he works really well with our team,” J.D. Gibbs said of Grubb. “He’s a good fit.”
According to Hamlin, signing Grubb was critical to the team’s 2012 prospects.
“It was big for us, because he had so many good options,” said Hamlin. “He had an offer from every race team in the garage area. For him to pick me as his driver and continuing to want to be a crew chief, is a big deal. He gives you the faith that the guy’s got a lot of faith in your talents and that you can bring him another championship.”
Hamlin said that to finally seal the deal and win his first Cup title, he’s going to have to become a better driver this season.
“There’s a lot of things that are going to be different,” Hamlin said. “I’ve got to be a little bit more aware of what’s going on with my feedback. I think at times, I’ve kind of took for granted that Mike kind of always just knew what I needed at certain times.”
As for Grubb, who was told midway through the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup that he would not be back at SHR this year, he said he’s good to go, too.
“The guys are patting me on the back and they’re excited about having me on board,” said Grubb of his new JGR teammates. “It’s great for me to be here as part of this large organization. They’ve put a lot of faith in me and my thoughts. We’re all working together really well and communicating what we want to do as the three race teams. ... It’s been a great relationship so far.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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