BRISTOL, Tenn. — When you look at the performance of Joe Gibbs Racing, compared to the last year or two, it’s not hard to understand why one would see a problem.
The Huntersville, North Carolina racing stable is the deepest into a season without a win from any driver since 2007 when Denny Hamlin broke through with a win at Loudon. Two of their drivers, Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez, are outside the top-10 in points as well. All four drivers combined have no more than three top-10 finishes (Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth with three and Hamlin and Daniel Suarez with two) and only Busch and Kenseth have a top-five on the season. Busch has led the second-most laps of any driver this season with 413, but the only other Gibbs driver to lead a lap is Hamlin with 28.
Busch admitted that the organization hasn’t been strong from the start.
“I would have to say that obviously, we’re not as strong this year out of the gate, I think last year’s win total was a lot more than this year. I feel as though we’re competitive and we’re close, but we’re not there,” he said.
Compare their performance to Martin Truex Jr. of JGR affiliate Furniture Row Racing.
Truex not only has a win and has led almost as many laps as Busch but he has amassed stage wins to rack up the playoff points that come with winning the stages.
“There’s things we’re seeing other teams doing that we haven’t necessarily ventured off into yet and some of those things, whether they’re better for you or worse for you, it may depend on what the wind tunnel says or what the K & C numbers say and things like that. We’re working on all those things though,” Busch said.
But the Gibbs drivers go to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend where they have a combined 10 wins amongst them. Two of the four, Busch and Kenseth, occupied the top-five spots in the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice for the Food City 500 and all but Suarez placed in the top-10 in practice.
Busch also noted that it’s too early for concern and you should ask the question deeper into the season.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for cause for concern yet, but ask me that question again in about 10 weeks,” he added.
