Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gibbs team rolls on — in the slow lane
The internet was not kind to Joe Gibbs Racing on Sunday, a day on which Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch spent cruising in the back, their left-turn signals blinking as the proverbial slowpokes on Talladega’s superspeedway.
They didn’t have anything to lose hanging in the back, but much could go wrong if they tried to race in the front.
So what’s a driver supposed to do? Exactly what they did.
Fans took to their keyboards to express displeasure, but it was a pointless rant.
“Guys would rather be in the situation where they feel like they’ve got to go win,” Gibbs said. “At the same time, it’s a playoff, and you’ve got to say what is smart and so you certainly don’t want to make a big mistake of some kind and cost your sponsor.”
Each sport establishes the rules of engagement. The NASCAR Chase hybrid — a deal involving wins and points — encourages a cautionary approach if you are on the brink of qualifying for the next round, a move that gets you closer to a championship.
And that is everyone’s goal, first and foremost.
Kenseth finished 28th, Edwards 29th and Busch 30th in the Hellmann’s 500. And teammate Denny Hamlin, in a more precarious position, finished third, allowing all Joe Gibbs drivers to advance.
The goal is to play within the rules and do everything you can within the rules to win a championship.
Kenseth, Edwards and Busch did just that — with strong finishes in the previous two races that locked them into the Chase grid barring any cataclysmic circumstances. Logano confident: Joey Logano will begin the third round of the Chase without the worry of getting bushwhacked from behind by a driver such as Kenseth.
Their infamous spat on the race track last year cost each of them a shot at the title. For Logano, it’s all about perspective now.
“As a person you always grow, or you hope to grow every day, hope to rest your head at bed every night and say, ‘I learned this today and I’m going to be better tomorrow,’ ” Logano said after winning at Talladega.
“I feel like I’m better today than I was yesterday and I feel like I should be. That’s the only way you stay successful because you’ll get caught up and passed before you know it.
“I learned some valuable lessons last year. I learned a whole new level that I didn’t know I had, and now I know how to reach that level mentally inside our race car.”