Denny Hamlin went to the 2.5-mile speedway as a favorite to win. A three-time winner of the 500, a fourth win would have put him alongside Cale Yarborough on the all-time winners list. However, the #11 driver would not find his way to the lead of the pack until the final stage. Not long after he did, he became entangled in the Big One that involved 18 cars on the field with less than 10 laps to go. He ultimately ended the day in 19th position, having led 10 laps.

There’s trouble at the front of the field! #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/6wVECKKWY1

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024

Martin Truex Jr. was last year’s regular season champ. He started the race from 27th position and climbed up the ladder expertly. He finished Stage 1 at 9th position behind Hamlin who ran 7th at the time. He followed that up with a 14th-place finish in Stage 2. The final stage saw him be a part of the same wreck that caught Hamlin. He ended the race 15th and took home 24 points.

Ty Gibbs was the worst performer of the day for Joe Gibbs Racing. He began his run from 15th on the grid and dropped down as the race progressed. Trailing his teammates for most of the race he finished the day at 17th place ahead of Hamlin. He led no laps and cashed in 20 points for his efforts.

Christopher Bell continues being the face of Joe Gibbs Racing

The #20 Toyota Camry driver started the Daytona 500 from 4th on the grid. He pretty much led his teammates for much of the race but fell back multiple positions towards the end of Stage 2. The two wrecks that engulfed the field helped him find his way to the top during the final stage. End of the day, only Joey Logano led more laps (45) than Bell. The JGR driver’s Camry was one of the cars that were left unaffected by the final stage’s Big One and helped him to the checkered flag.

Results from this year’s #DAYTONA500

P3 – @CBellRacing
P15 – @MartinTruex_Jr
P17 – @TyGibbs
P19 – @dennyhamlin pic.twitter.com/mDvKKDUOV6

— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) February 20, 2024

Despite the top-five finish, Bell doesn’t see things as ideal. He said in his post-race interview, “We showed a lot of pace between the Duel and the early part of the race. When we had track position, we were fast. But I don’t know. Didn’t go our way and we need to study it.” Bell and his team will have their next shot at the victory lane on February 25 in Atlanta.

The post At a Glance: How the Daytona 500 Went Down for Joe Gibbs Racing appeared first on The SportsRush.

He shared his views on this subject in a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast. “I don’t think Joey overreacted. Obviously, I’d be upset if I was him. One thing that puzzled me, which I wasn’t expecting, I talked about it on the radio to Bubba, was I was fully expecting Joey to choose the bottom behind Ty and ship his a**. That’s kind of what I would just expect out of Joey,” he said.

“I was surprised when he took the top and I was like, ‘That’s different.'”

Kraft claimed that Ty Gibbs made a mistake when he decided to run Logano so high that it was Denny Hamlin who passed them on the bottom, took the lead, and won the race.

Neither Ty Gibbs nor Joey Logano ended up overreacting, Kraft claims

Freddie Kraft mentioned how difficult it was for tires to find grip on restarts in the Clash as he pointed to Logano’s big issue with the young #54 driver. “What compounded Joey’s issue was, Ty runs him to the damn woodshed there, and then he’s gotta check-up, and then (Ryan) Blaney gets him and knocks him out of shape. And that’s what compounded for Joey,” he described.

“He’s frustrated. He ran top two or three all night long. He was in a position to win the race. I was surprised by his decision to choose the top there because you see who came out in the lead and won the race, the guy who chose the bottom behind the #54.”

Having said that, the spotter emphasized how Logano didn’t overreact, that there’s some history between them from Martinsville last year, and that incident too was a product of things that happened in previous races. In the end, Kraft claimed, “It is what it is. I don’t think Ty did it on purpose. I don’t think he meant to take him that high.”

As for Logano, he emphasized that Logano was right in his reaction to Gibbs, considering the young driver cost him a chance to win the race.

The post Did Joey Logano Overreact Against Ty Gibbs? appeared first on The SportsRush.

Breaking down the many little feuds that went down at the Coliseum, Petty provided his verdict on the Logano-Gibbs clash. He said, “We saw Ty move Joey up. Have we ever seen Joey move anybody up? Yeah, I think we have. So if you do it, you can’t complain about it. I’m sorry, but you can’t complain about it.”

Going on to talk about how soft today’s drivers are compared to the old-schoolers, Petty added, “Old-school drivers would do it to each other and never complain about it. These guys do it to each other and whine about it, tweet about it, put it up on Instagram, and put it up on TikTok. ‘The world has to know somebody did something wrong to me.’

He concluded stating that Gibbs did nothing wrong to Logano. The scenes that transpired at Gibbs’ trailer after the race were highly reminiscent of the friction that a young Logano had with Tony Stewart many years back, and the Team Penske star concludes with that.

“I can see a lot of myself in Ty”: Logano is at a loss after the L.A. clash

Logano spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Tuesday morning and discussed the situation with Gibbs. He revealed how they’d spoken with each other after last year’s issue at Martinsville and resolved things. He mentioned that he’d been impressed by Gibbs’ humbleness back then and wished that he could have had a similar conversation with Tony Stewart or Kevin Harvick.

In his words, “I can see a lot of myself in Ty. I get a lot of it. I thought, ‘Man, if I talked to Kevin (Harvick) that way or I talked to Tony (Stewart) in that way, gosh that would have been great, like to have had that.’

However, Logano’s peace did not last long. He continued the narration, “And only for the first opportunity for us to race each other since that conversation to get completely used up on the restart.”

On the heels of their latest spat, @joeylogano spoke on the feud that’s been bubbling with @TyGibbs dating back to last year.

️ “You can only poke the bear so many times before the bear bites you […] his words don’t mean nothing to me no more.”

→ https://t.co/1aUirPWIgB pic.twitter.com/RYPnxIYBbi

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 6, 2024

He could understand Gibbs being aggressive in the final laps of a race, but not pushing him into the fence. Talking about a future course of action, the champion expressed his bewilderment. “I don’t really know the next to do. … I’m at a loss at this point,” he said.

The post Joey Logano “Can’t Complain” Over Ty Gibbs Feud, NASCAR Insider Explains Why appeared first on The SportsRush.

But this leads to an interesting question: Is Ty Gibbs a younger version of Joey Logano?

Because Logano certainly sees himself or his past self in the young Joe Gibbs Racing driver. “I’ve been through a lot of the stuff before where I was like him. I can see a lot of myself in Ty. I get a lot of it,” he said in a recent interview.

“When I was young, I was doing a lot of the same things. But I also learned my lesson and I completely understand it now, but we’re just not there yet. I want to work it out. I want it to be clear: I don’t want to be in a pissing match with his guy,” Logano explained.

“But I’m also not gonna get pushed around. I’m sure he’s saying the same things but he’s the one pushing back right now and eventually, you get bit back. That’s how our sport works. It’s self-policing. It’s eye for an eye. That’s how it works.”

“I see a lot of myself in Ty.”

More from @joeylogano earlier on “Behind The Wheel” today

“I want to work it out. I’m being clear. I don’t wanna be in a pissing match with this guy. But I’m also not going to get pushed around.” pic.twitter.com/F79jdRGTGX

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) February 6, 2024

Clearly, as per Joey Logano, there’s a bit of him that he sees in the young Ty Gibbs. But now the question is, is Ty Gibbs on the same trajectory as Logano?

Ty Gibbs’ NASCAR career turning out like Joey Logano’s?

Joey Logano’s rise to the top of NASCAR is a story unlike any other. Not many drivers, at such a young age as he was, get the sort of reputation, notoriety, and more importantly, accolades as Logano did. Today, he is a 2x Cup champion. But once upon a time, he was very much like Ty Gibbs.

Gibbs, who only made his Cup debut last season, has also developed a reputation for himself when he was racing in the Xfinity Series. But just like Logano, Gibbs had the results to show for his antics and ways on the racetrack. He won the Xfinity title, got promoted to one of the top teams in the Cup, and almost made it to the playoffs in his rookie season.

Of course, Logano also started his Cup career with JGR. Logano was 19 in his first full-time season. Gibbs was 20. Logano had one win, 2 finishes inside the top 5, and 4 finishes inside the top 10 in his first full-time Cup season. Although he didn’t win a race in his rookie season, Gibbs had 4 finishes inside the top 5 and 6 finishes inside the top 10.

Karma? Poetic? Who knows?

The post Is Ty Gibbs a Younger Version of Joey Logano? appeared first on The SportsRush.

In a post-race interview, expressing how Gibbs has gotten better ever since he had emerged into the Cup Series arena, the 23XI Racing owner said, “He’s very young. He’s green. He is definitely green.” As a young driver, Gibbs asks his seniors a lot of questions and needless to say, that is the sign of someone who wants to excel in their career. “I think he’s going to have tremendous success this year. I think he’s going to be part of the playoffs. I don’t think that’s going to be a big shock to anyone,” added Hamlin.

Hamlin’s confidence in Gibbs is quite justified. In just his brief stint as a racecar driver, Gibbs has achieved several milestones which include an ARCA East wing at just the age of 16, an Xfinity triumph at 18, an ARCA Menards Series title at 19, and most recently, an Xfinity series championship at 20.

Hamlin admitted that Gibbs is far ahead of where the former was when he was of Gibbs’ age. “I was definitely still running late models for sure, and I don’t even know if I had won a late model race yet at this point. He’s certainly way ahead of that step,” explained Hamlin. According to him, people are going to talk about Ty Gibbs for decades, and with a bigshot team like Joe Gibbs backing him up, he is bound to make it big.

Denny Hamlin notices a boost in social media following

Thanks to ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’, the sport is garnering attention from what Hamlin called a “different crowd”. On that note, he revealed that he has noticed a major jump in followers over the last few days. “When you look at the area they’re form,” he said, “their gender, all that stuff, it’s a different crowd. I think certainly it’s getting out to people that probably have not seen NASCAR before from what I can see.”

It’s safe to say that the five-part docuseries is indeed serving its purpose. Hamlin feels like it is an excellent representation of the entire sport, with special attention to the playoffs and how they work. For any new fan, watching a NASCAR race right on top might seem out of context and hard to follow and that is where the series will play its role. “If you watch that, now you’re going to know when you flip the channel what’s going on in the middle of the race now,” he assured.

Even for the current fans of the sport, a lot of the work that goes into putting out the end product every weekend remains shrouded in darkness. The show brings that aspect of NASCAR under the spotlight as well. Denny Hamlin, like the fans, hopes there will be another season to the series and that newer faces will feature in it.

The post “He Is Definitely Green”: Ty Gibbs’ NASCAR Progress Hailed by Denny Hamlin appeared first on The SportsRush.

On that note, Toyota Racing Development’s president David Wilson spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR radio and while doing so, he didn’t pull any punches mouthing his expectations from the winningest Toyota team in NASCAR. “Four cars in the playoffs, two cars all the way to Phoenix. Anything less will be disappointing,” he stated bluntly.

“4 cars in the playoffs, 2 cars all the way to Phoenix. Anything less will be disappointing.”@DavidWilsonTRD didn’t mince words when laying out his expectations for @JoeGibbsRacing in the Cup Series this upcoming season.

Do you agree with him? pic.twitter.com/GobCDiGQwS

— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) January 25, 2024

When Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing, Ty Gibbs had not even completed a year at the Cup level. Indeed, there were other drivers like Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell to hold the reins. But now that Gibbs has completed a year of driving in the Cup Series, he is perhaps more experienced and capable of contending for the win. No wonder why Wilson thinks that the #54 driver will go on to win races this year.

But when it came to the #11 driver, Wilson’s confidence seemed to know no bounds. Despite acknowledging Hamlin’s playoff failure, Wilson said “Denny’s going on his 18th season, I believe… Denny has proven to all of us, that being a team owner wasn’t going to take away his talent and capability behind the wheel.”

“I think he’s done some things in the off season to help stabilise him in many respects. Think that’s only going to make him that much more of a danger,” he concluded.

Toyota’s ambition this year is on another level

Just like Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota is fairly new to the NASCAR Cup Series. Toyota joined forces with Joe Gibbs Racing just in 2007 and since then, they have just two championship titles to their credit, thanks to Kyle Busch. Although, Toyota has a third manufacturer’s title as well but that was with Martin Truex Jr. during his Front Row Motorsport days back in 2017.

To be square and clear, the Toyota teams will have to rev up their engines as soon and as hard as possible. As Wilson stated, he wants all four cars in the playoffs. From then on, he would love to see at least two of his cars in the Championship 4.

Needless to say, JGR will get the priority as it is a top team. Nevertheless, 23XI Racing too, is a team to look out for. Not to mention, Legacy Motorclub, who’s looking forward to its first season after having switched to Toyota.

The post “Anything Less Will Be Disappointing”: Toyota Executive’s Stern Pointer to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2024 appeared first on The SportsRush.

During the conversation, Junior asked who Davis would consider to be the next breakout star in the Cup Series.

Davis picked Ty Gibbs, to which Junior said, “I’m gonna say, I’m gonna say that next year is your breakout star, Ty Gibbs. I don’t, I want to go with like Zane Smith or, you know, Josh Berry, John Hunter Nemechek.”

“But I just don’t know that their cars and I don’t know. I think Ty Gibbs is in a Gibbs car there. Their stuff runs in the top five a lot. And I think he’s just trying to get there. So I think you’re right Mike,” concluded the Hall of Famer.

What are your way-too-early 2024 NASCAR predictions?

https://t.co/XV1x8SQC5W pic.twitter.com/TBhLsBLNXD

— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) November 21, 2023

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis pick their championship hopes for 2024

During the same interaction, Junior asked Davis to drop his predictions for next year’s championship. Davis laughed off the fact that they were predicting such a thing in November of the previous year before the actual start of the season. But he eventually said, “My champion for 2024 is James Dennis Hamlin (Denny Hamlin).”

Right after, Junior shared his pick and said, “I’m gonna go with Blaney back to back… Why is it funny that I picked the current champion? I mean, now he just proved, he just proved he could do it.”

Blaney did prove himself to be one of the top runners who could seal the deal and ride on home with the Championship. But heading into next season the uncertainty remains high, considering there are a lot of drivers and factors at play that cannot be judged until a few races have taken place.

The post Dale Earnhardt Jr. Backs Joe Gibbs Racing Prodigy for Major Success Next Year appeared first on The SportsRush.

And even though he may not be the favorite or the pick of many to win his first Cup title in Phoenix next Sunday, a big name from Hendrick Motorsports camp thinks Bell can get the job done. Steve Letarte, the former crew chief turned analyst for NBC, recently made the case for the JGR driver’s glory next weekend, citing the one factor that could be the big decider.

Steve Letarte makes the case for Christopher Bell winning on Sunday

Speaking in a recent conversation about next Sunday’s season-decider race at Phoenix, Letarte said of Christopher Bell, “If you look at the numbers, you would say he is not the favorite. Only 142 starts and 6 wins. But let’s not forget, 3 of these 6 wins came in the playoffs when it all mattered with all the pressure on the line.”

Letarte wondered what Bell, who is 28, learned from his trip to Phoenix last year, whether he was “a bit emotionally worn out” considering what it took for him to get to that place last year, which is completely different this year.

“This year, they won, they won early. I agree, execution is really the only question I have for Christopher Bell,” Letarte claimed.

“It really comes down to, can they put together the pit stops when it matters. I don’t know how many times we can talk about it, pit road, pit road, pit road, that’s the Achilles’ Heel, that’ll be the question mark.”

Joe Gibbs Racing made a big call for Bell ahead of the playoffs

As Steve Letarte mentioned, and as it has been mentioned countless times before, the biggest factor in the championship race on Sunday would be the battle of the pit road. This will also be the case for Christopher Bell, and luckily, his organization thought about that factor well in advance.

This is because before the start of the playoffs, back in August, Joe Gibbs Racing announced a swap between Bell’s pit crew and the pit crew of Ty Gibbs. At that point, Gibbs’ pit crew ranked third in the garage in terms of average time for a stop. And even though JGR could still allot the best pit crew members to Bell considering he’s their only driver in the championship contention, heading into Phoenix this weekend, his pit crew would want to aim a little higher than that, to be the best in the garage for the time when it all matters.

Or at least, if not the best of the bunch, then to be the best of the final 4.

The post Hendrick Legend Outlines the One Hurdle Between Christopher Bell and the NASCAR Cup Title: “That’s the Achilles’ Heel” appeared first on The SportsRush.

After the conclusion of the race, Hamlin had the chance to speak with journalists where he spoke about being upset with Logano, slamming the Team Penske driver for his utter lack of respect despite not being in contention.

Speaking with journalist Bob Pockrass, Hamlin noted, “I mean, the only issue I really had was with Logano knocking out Ty (Gibbs) there, knocking to Ty into me, I just thought some more respect to be out there for guys that myself and the #12 we’re trying to earn a spot in the Final Four. And I thought that we deserved a chance to race it amongst ourselves and not have somebody else in there knocking cars around.”

Denny Hamlin on what was going through his mind in the final stage when Ryan Blaney was pulling away and also what he thought of how non-playoff drivers raced (he wasn’t thrilled with Joey Logano). pic.twitter.com/IOB5Gc2pfA

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 29, 2023

Hamlin’s displeasure was understandable, considering that he was racing for a spot in the final four, while Logano had already been eliminated from the playoffs and had nothing to gain from that incident.

What Logano may have been trying to do was take out Hamlin’s teammate so the JGR driver would not have any help moving through the field. This would have ended up helping Logano’s teammate Ryan Blaney, against whom Hamlin had been fighting for the final two spots in the championship four.

Hamlin yelled expletives at Logano during the incident

The amount of pressure the playoff drivers go through in a make-it-or-break-it situation is unimaginable and having someone carry out their shenanigans next to you on the race track can be a frustrating experience. Not to mention that the race day had been unusually hot at Martinsville, so with everything added together, Hamlin lost his cool and yelled on the radio.

“F***ing Joey (Logano), he’s a f***ing piece of sh** human.”

Denny Hamlin

— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) October 29, 2023

His radio message stated, “F***ing Joey (Logano), he’s a f***ing piece of sh** human.”

Anyone who would have been in Hamlin’s shoes at that point in time would have reacted in a similar manner, considering how uncalled for the wreck had been.

In situations like these, the non-playoff teammates often come in handy to help block competitors and aid their teammates in gaining an advantage. Although deliberately wrecking someone out isn’t the textbook definition of helping their teammate out.

The post Denny Hamlin Slams Joey Logano for Lack of Respect After On-Track Shenanigans Prove Costly for JGR Driver appeared first on The SportsRush.

The JGR team had taken a gamble to swap crews between Ty Gibbs and Bell since the latter made it into the postseason. However, their decision to change the crews that late into the season may have backfired with Bell’s pit stop timings appearing to be slower than normal in the past couple of races.

Following JGR’s decision former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. also expressed caution considering all the problems it would cause. Meanwhile, while debating the pit crew woes with Bell, NASCAR analyst Jeff Burton explained how Junior’s earlier prediction seemed correct in the playoffs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s prediction stands correct after JGR gamble fails on Christopher Bell

While discussing the subject during the Motorsports on NBC Podcast, Matt Ryan explained that the pit crews of Bell’s car were not performing as well as they did when they were with Ty Gibbs’ car. The pit crew was ranked outside the top 20 after being ranked in the top 5 with Ty Gibbs.

Later on, Jeff Burton stated, “Christopher was very clear to me that that he had to be better on pit road as well. And I found that interesting like there’s almost like when he got the new pit crew, like it was it sometimes when your pit crew is having a bad stop, right? It’s just not going well on pit road… The pit crew is clearly a second off whatever I’m just making that number up.”

Adding, “The pressure doesn’t get applied in all the other areas, right? It’s just like, we just need to fix that right? And then when you do start having good pitstops and now the analysis is okay. We had the same stop as them, but we came out behind them. What else is there?”

Finally, Burton explained that with the increasing speed of pit stops, there were more chances of making mistakes such as entering the pit box, maintaining the pit road speed, and other factors that affect the speed of the pit stop. The former NASCAR driver emphasized that these factors did matter and could influence the outcome of the race.

What did Junior predict regarding the JGR gamble?

While speaking on his podcast ahead of the playoffs, Junior discussed the decision to interchange the pit crews between Bell and Gibss. He mentioned that having crews that were with Gibb’s team for the majority of the races in a season come down to Bell for the playoff could be “awkward and weird.” With the new crew in place if there were any mistakes to happen all of the blame would be pointed in the direction of the new pit crew.

He said, “It’s not his choice and he has to start building this new relationship with this #54 team that was with Ty Gibbs all year and he’s got 10 races and playoff pressure and all those things.

Additionally, there is a thing about building a relationship with your pit crew over time, and with changes like this so late into the season, it would be a hard thing for the driver to adapt to. Although Junior did mention that communication between the pit crew members and drivers would be the only solution to have them on the same page.

The post Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Stand Vindicated As JGR Gamble Not Working for Christopher Bell appeared first on The SportsRush.