[media-credit name=”Credit: Brian Lawdermilk – Pool/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”234″]
[/media-credit]Multifaceted Owner Reaches Rare Milestone At New Hampshire
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 23, 2012) – Joe Gibbs’ hard-to-fathom two-sport career has become statistically symmetrical. Consider…
Three Super Bowl championships? Check.
Three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships? Check.
Triple-digit wins in the NFL? Check.
Triple-digit wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series? Well, after two-plus decades in the sport, Gibbs can check that rare milestone off the list too.
With Denny Hamlin’s dominant win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) reached a rare milestone, becoming only the sixth team in NASCAR Sprint Cup history to reach 100 victories.
Joe Gibbs entered the series in 1992 as a one-car team with eventual series champion Dale Jarrett as his driver. Now, JGR exists as a three-car powerhouse that threatens to win another championship this season with Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender Hamlin. Its first championship came in 2000 with Bobby Labonte. JGR would follow that up win two more titles, both with Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005).
Now, the team adds another accolade to the list – 100 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories. JGR has won with six different drivers, at 23 different tracks. Below is a timeline of Gibbs’ notable and milestone victories on its way to 100:
1 – On Feb. 14, 1993, JGR won its first race – and it was on NASCAR’s biggest stage, the Daytona 500. With his father Ned urging him to victory while calling the race from the CBS broadcast booth, Dale Jarrett captured his second and Gibbs’ first win. JGR has won at least one race every season since.
3 – JGR won its first Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on May 28, 1995 with Bobby Labonte driving.
22 – JGR won its first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Aug. 5, 2000, during his championship campaign, Bobby Labonte led 21 laps prior to kissing the bricks. JGR would win two more Brickyard events, both with Indiana native Tony Stewart (2005 and 2007).
23 – The team’s next win came in another of NASCAR’s crown jewels – the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Labonte picked up the win again, on Sept. 3, 2000.
50 – JGR reached milestone victory No. 50 on July 1, 2006. Tony Stewart won the Daytona night race, starting second and leading 86 laps.
72 – On June 28, 2009, in a rain-shortened event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, JGR driver Joey Logano became the youngest winner in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history at the age of 19 years, one month and four days.
88 – On Nov. 7, 2010, Denny Hamlin won at Texas Motor Speedway for the team’s 11th victory of the year, making the 2010 season the most prolific in JGR’s history.
