Joe Gibbs leaps from tragedy to triumph with Toyota
In 2019, the NASCAR Cup was all about one team: Joe Gibbs Racing.
Championship veterans Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were joined at the Toyota Camry-speared attack by 2017 champion and Furniture Row Racing refugee Martin Truex Jr. Adding to the potent line-up was Erik Jones, who continued to add fresh blood into a squad that entered
2019 with a combined 102 Cup wins.
By season’s end at Homestead, Busch, Hamlin and Truex Jr were all in contention to claim the crown, scooping 18 of the 35 race wins between them (Jones adding a solitary victory to the tally at Darlington), with Stewart-haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick the only non-jgr interloper in the four-way title race.
On championship night itself around the 1.5-mile oval in Miami, mistakes with the tyres on pitroad cost Hamlin his shot at a first title, while Harvick’s Ford Mustang never quite looked like it would trouble Busch or Truex.
Ultimately, it was Busch who claimed his second Cup title. Four years after his first crown in 2015, he sealed the spoils with a dominant victory, his first since Pocono in June and the fifth of his year.
“It’s so much fun to work with these guys, this group, everybody that puts it all together for me,” said Busch, who had led the regular season standings until the
Playoffs commenced. “There are always your doubters. There are always your haters. I mean, man, what a season Joe Gibbs Racing put together.”
Despite dominating the year and ending it with a win strike rate of 52.8%, 2019 wasn’t totally rosy for the JGR juggernaut owing to the death of team co-owner JD Gibbs, son of Joe, at the age of 49 before the season-opening Daytona 500. It was apt that come the 500 itself, the JGR fleet negotiated the crash-fest intact, with Hamlin leading home Busch and Jones for his second 500 win and an emotional 1-2-3 for the team.
For the first time since 2015, Team Penske did not have representation in the ‘Championship 4’, as reigning champion Joey Logano surrendered his title. While Penske posted a healthy six wins – split between Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney – and Harvick added a further four with SHR, the Mustang just didn’t have the consistency to mount a challenge to the JGR Camry contenders.
Much the same can be said for
Chevrolet. Its seven Camaro wins were split between five drivers, with only Chase Elliott scooping more than a solitary win.
Jimmie Johnson’s penultimate Cup campaign again failed to yield an appearance in victory lane. The seven-time champion’s winless stretch now stands at 95 races since Dover 2017.