Working On My Redneck ™ » JGR

JGR Prez Wants Hamlin To Zip It

Leon — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 14:39:25 +0000

(photo courtesy Geoff Burke/Getty Images)

Joe Gibbs Racing president, J.D.Gibbs, doesn’t want to change Denny Hamlin, he just would like very much for the driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota to be a little smarter and use better judgement when expressing his views on controversial topics!

Race car drivers are not known for the tact and diplomacy, rather, they are known for their aggressiveness, determination, and raw emotions. So therefore, it was not uncommon to have a driver, in this case Denny Hamlin, to ignite and instigate a “garage fire” by opening his mouth before he engaged his brain!

Hamlin created a stir when he criticized Clint Bowyer’s excuse for why his car flunked a follow-up inspection after winning at New Hampshire. Kevin Harvick, Bowyer’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, retaliated against Hamlin during Saturday’s practice and the two Chase drivers most likely talked at length about their heritage, discussed their mother’s profession, and finally exchanged profound and prolific profanities in the garage!

Gibbs spoke with Hamlin about his comments that sparked a weekend full of acrimony.

”I think looking back now, I think, yeah, he wishes he could take back some of that and not make that the issue that it’s become,” Gibbs said.

Gibbs wasn’t worried about tempers flaring Sunday or perhaps down the line as the pressure grows in the title hunt. Gibbs wants to keep the focus on racing, not his driver popping off.

”It’s just distracting. That’s what you don’t want, distractions when you’re in the Chase,” Gibbs said.

However, Hamlin considered the issue over.

”They wanted to voice their displeasure the way they did. That’s fine,” Hamlin said. ”I didn’t see those guys really all day. So everyone I think was focused on their own race. I think there’s too much to lose within this Chase for anyone to really do anything that’s out of the ordinary or make a dumb move. There’s too much at stake for these race teams.”

WOMR wonders, is this issue really over?

Drivers seem to have memories like an elephant! You might keep an eye out for a Richard Childress driver that has all but been eliminated from the championship, taking his shot at Hamlin in the upcoming weeks.

Do you think that Hamlin may have to extract himself from a pile of crumpled sheet metal in the near future? If the president of Joe Gibbs Racing has to make a public statement as a veiled apology for Hamlin, it would appear that maybe JGR is very concerned that one of their star drivers may have just painted a bulls eye on his car, and in this case, stomped all over his sexual organ! What do you think?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Hamlin Wins At Michigan

Leon — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:31:50 +0000

(photo courtesy nascar)

Denny Hamlin notched his fifth victory of the 2010 season, winning the Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway. All of Hamlin’s wins coming after the switch from the rear wing to the rear spoiler. Additionally, it is the second win in a row and the third in the last five races for the JGR #11 FedEx Toyota Camry!

Hamlin led a race high 123 laps of the scheduled 200 laps Sunday, and pulled away from Kasey Khane after the last restart very handily. Unlike last week at Pocono, Hamlin did not have to hold the field off after the NASCAR version of overtime. This week at Michigan there was no such thing! In fact, Hamlin had a lead as much as 10 seconds over second place Kasey Kahne at Michigan.

Rounding the top seven finishers at Michigan were Kurt Busch finishing in third place, Jeff Gordon following in fourth place, Tony Stewart closely behind in fifih place, Jimmie Johnson in sixth place, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. having a great day winding up in seventh place at Michigan International Speedway.

Hamlin’s wins this season has run the full gamut of race tracks, superspeedway, short tracks, and intermediate tracks. It appears that, at this particular stage of the season, Joe Gibbs Racing and Hamlin have got a huge portion of momentum on their plate! That is not exactly great news for the other 42 competitors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit.

Hamlin’s performance highlighted the chasm between his team and the rest of the series at the moment. He’s won five of the last 11 races and is poised to make a serious run at ending Johnson’s long reign.

Do you think that Hamlin has a good chance of disposing Johnson as Sprint Cup champion?

Here is the unofficial results from Michigan.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

The Hamlin-Busch Feud Rekindles!

Leon — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:12:43 +0000

(photo courtesy Jason Smith/Getty Images)

Has anybody seen the bus?

Not only did Denny Hamlin, driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing of the #11 Fed Ex Toyota Camry, throw his teammate, Kyle Busch, driver of the JGR #18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, under the bus- he flat ran over him as well!

Just when all had thought that the heated, vulgarity laced, discussion between Kyle Busch and his teammate Denny Hamlin had been pacified by team owner Joe Gibbs last Saturday night, the feud continues! Kyle is quoted as saying on Thursday, “For me I am over the Denny Hamlin issue. It’s done, we’re moving forward and we look forward to the rest of the year and the [Coca-Cola] 600 this weekend.”

However, Denny Hamlin was considerably more blunt about the matter when discussing his feelings. “I definitely wouldn’t change anything that I would do and nobody in my position would,” said Hamlin. “I challenge anyone to be in that position and to change the way that I drove. The thing is that he [Busch] was never there, there was never a hole for his car to fit in, so he has a gas pedal and a brake just like I do. He could choose to check up and pass me in the next corner or put his car in the fence like what happened.”

Hamlin didn’t just stop with that blunt statement. He was asked if he would work with his teammate, Busch, he expressed his displeasure with the hot tempered Las Vegas native.

“I’m not going to put too much effort in it, to be honest with you,” Hamlin said. “Kyle brings this stuff up himself and he gets mad at the media for asking him questions about his blow-ups and stuff, but he does it to himself. I don’t want to be part of it. Any drama that he wants to create or anything is on him. Anything he says on the radio is on him. [That’s] all I’m going to say and I’m going to be done with it. Each year I think Kyle’s going to grow out of it and he just doesn’t. Until he puts it all together, that’s when he’ll become a champion. Right now he just doesn’t have himself all together.”

And then, for good measure, this little parting rim shot from Hamlin:

“I didn’t say that I was going to take over this team or be the leader of this team, but somebody’s got to be the leader—it ain’t going to be Kyle.”

Hey Joe, looks like you have your work cut out for you this season! Maybe you should try the Rick Hendrick technique of “milk and cookies” used at one time with Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson when they were feuding!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Kyle A Helluva Win At Dover

Leon — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:26:59 +0000

(photo courtesy nascar,com)

Kyle Busch, in his JGR #18 Combos Toyota thoroughly dominated the Nationwide Helluva 200 from Dover International Speedway Saturday. Busch led 191 laps of the 205 laps that included the green-white-checkered finish!

On the first of the late restarts, Busch jumped to the lead but just behind him second-place Clint Bowyer was rear-ended by Denny Hamlin. Several cars which had shots at the victory were also caught up.

Bowyer went to the pits but just before the next restart, he came back out onto the track and rammed and spun Hamlin, who would have restarted second.

“It was nothing intentional,” Hamlin said of hitting Bowyer on the first restart. “I barely misjudged it. I didn’t know how close I was (to Bowyer’s bumper).

“I just barely clipped him. It ruined his day and it ruined our day.”

NASCAR officials ordered Bowyer to pits and then to a meeting with officials. Can we say, “Hey Clint just sign the check!”

On the second restart, a green-white-checkered, Busch blew out to a big lead and won by 1.2 seconds over Ryan Newman, driving the Phoenix Racing #1 Chevy. Jamie McMurray, diving the JR Motorsports #88 Chevy, was third and Reed Sorenson was fourth.

The series points leader,”Blazingly Bad” Brad Keselowski, has a very eventful afternoon. After blowing a front tire, spinning wildly on the front stretch, and keeping the car off both walls, brought his Penske Racing Ruby Tuesdays #22 Dodge home in 7th place this afternoon. With his 7th place finish today, Keselowski was able to maintain his series points lead.

All in all, ol Kylie showed the nationwide boys the fast way around the track!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Hamlin Pulls Off A Double At Darlington

Leon — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:01:21 +0000

(photo courtesy Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin pulled off the Darlington double, winning both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races this weekend! That feat has only been accomplished 3 times in Darlington’s illustrious 61 year history!

Denny Hamlin restarted the Showtime Southern 500 Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway Saturday night in the lead driving his JGR #11 Fed Ex Toyota with 20 laps to go, and had no problem holding off the field to get the victory.

However, the two drivers who appeared to have the best shots at beating Hamlin in the Cup race – Jeff Gordon in the HMS #24 DuPont Chevy and Jeff Burton in the RCR #31 CAT Chevy – blew their chances at victory by making mistakes on the final pit stop of the evening. Gordon missed the commitment cone while trying to pit and Burton was penalized for running over a hose in the pits.

Jamie McMurray, driving the EGR #1 Bass Pro Sports Chevy, who started from the pole, finished second. On Friday, McMurray finished third in the Nationwide race. So, big weekend for McMurray – though not a surprising one to him and his teams.

Kurt Busch, driving the Penske Racing #2 Miller Lite Dodge, finished third. A very welcome third. “I haven’t had a solid run like tonight since Ricky Craven and I battled it out for that win,” Busch, whose brother Kyle finished second to Hamlin on Friday, said. “It feels good to get our Miller Lite Dodge back up front. It came down to a strategy where I though two tires would be the way to go at the end. We had the right strategy, we just didn’t have enough speed.

Gordon came back to finish fourth, after missing the pit entrance. Then as he re-entered the pits on the second attempt, a yellow flag cam out. With that yellow flag being waved, Gordon drove right through the pits again to rejoin the pack, then next time by Gordon took the wave around.

“That is what happens when you make a make a mistake,” Gordon said of missing pit road. “You have to make it up to your guys who worked so hard all weekend long to give you a race car like that.

Rounding out the top five was JPM, better know as Juan Pabl0 Montoya, driving the EGR #42 Target Chevy.

So the “track too tough to tame” has again given the race fans a great weekend of racing. The Southern 500 has put another exclamation point on a NASCAR season already full of exciting finishes. Even more interesting is that Deny Hamlin has shown that no “stinkin’ ACL surgery” will put a hamper on his competitiveness, durability, focus, and drive!

What is your take on Hamlin’s toughness?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Hamlin Dominates The Royal Purple 200

Leon — Sat, 08 May 2010 16:13:42 +0000

(photo courtesy NASCAR)

Less than six weeks removed from ACL surgery on his left knee, Denny Hamlin opted for a weekend double at the track he considers one of the most grueling on the NASCAR circuit.

So far, so good. Staying out on old tires while other contenders came to the pits under caution on Lap 123, Hamlin held off teammate Kyle Busch, who also stayed out, to win Friday night’s Royal Purple 200 presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts at Darlington Raceway.

Hamlin had the lead on the restart but was passed briefly by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Hamlin, who led a race-best 111 laps, quickly recaptured the lead and then began to walk away from Kyle Busch. The final margin of victory was about 10 car lengths.

It was the ninth time the two JGR drivers have finished first and second to each other in a Nationwide race.

Jamie McMurray, who restarted sixth, charged to a third-place finish.

Darlington Raceway truly lived up to its nickname Friday night, “The track too tough to tame”! The infamous “Darlington Stripe” adorned many of the race cars by the end of the race. Some of the competitors, however, were not so lucky as to just get “the stripe”. Some of the very unlucky cars had to be put “on the hook”, lifted back into their haulers, and headed for the scrap heap!

The race was a domination of the Joe Gibbs Racing tandem of Denny Hamlin and ol Kylie Busch. However, Hamlin’s #20 JGR Z-Line Toyota was most definitely the class of the field all race!

What do you think about Hamlin’s durability after going through ACL surgery four weeks ago?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Is Joe Gibbs Racing The Future Of NASCAR?

Leon — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:35:48 +0000

( l-r, Denny Hamlin, Brad Coleman, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch photo courtesy Jason Smith/Getty Images)

Arguably Hendrick Motorsports has been the most dominate and successful race team in NASCAR for the last 15 years. HMS has set the bar extremely high for every other Sprint Cup team to try to attain, winning nine Sprint Cup championships in the last fifteen years! Having said all that, can HMS continue to be the dominate force indefinitely? If not, then who will be the next race team to carry the banner for NASCAR?

Looking at the lineup of youthful drivers that Joe Gibbs Racing have assembled for their Sprint Cup cars, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch, they just might be the next dominate Sprint Cup team.

Denny Hamlin (Dastardly Denny Hamlin)

The 29 year old’s first full year in Sprint cup driving the JGR #11 FedEx Toyota (formally Chevy) was 2006, where he won the Rookie of the Year award. He has raced in a total of 144 Sprint Cup races in the past four years, and logged 79 top ten finishes in those races. That means that 54.8 % of the time Hamlin has finished in the top ten, very consistent. Additionally, that means that more than half of the races Hamlin has put himself in a position to possibly win the race!

In Hamlin’s first restrictor plate race, The 2006 Bud Shootout, he was able to notch a victory and be the first Rookie of the Year candidate to win The Bud Shootout in NASCAR history.

Hamlin has logged 8 Sprint cup victories in his career to date.

A note on Hamlin.

After the 2009 season Denny had the right medial meniscus repaired surgically. Additionally this past weekend Hamlin tore the ACL in his left knee. Surgery for that injury is presently delayed until the end of the 2010 season. Could this be an injury that will affect Hamlin’s perormance? Time will tell!

Joey Logano (Sliced Bread)

With announcement by Tony Stewart that he was leaving JGR at the end of 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing was forced to rush Logano into the driver seat of the #20 Home Depot Toyota, well ahead of the initial plan!

Logano’s first major victory in NASCAR came during the Meijer 300 at the Kentucky Speedway in just his third start in the Nationwide Series in 2008. Logano made history with that victory making him the youngest person to win a race in the Nationwide Series. In 2009, Logano wins a rain shortened Lennox Industrial Tool 301 at Louden, NH, again making him the youngest driver to win in the Sprint Cup Series.

In spite of the quick promotion to Sprint Cup in 2009, Logano recorded 1 victory and 6 top ten finishes in the 36 race schedule. More impressively, Logano’s numbers in his full year in the Nationwide Series, 2009, reflected 6 victories and 27 top ten finishes in the 35 race schedule. Not bad for a 19 year old kid!

Kyle Busch (The Las Vegas Weasel)

This phenomenally talented race driver has accumulated some mind boggling numbers in just his five seasons at the top levels of NASCAR.. The combined victories from all three elite series, Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Trucks adds up to 61 victories! That is for only five seasons!

Busch won the 2009 Nationwide Series championship without competing in the entire 35 race schedule! Between the JGR #18 Z-Line Toyota and the JGR #20 Game Stop Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing completely dominated the Nationwide Series in 2009 with a total of 22 wins out of 35 races!

Kyle Busch has all the racing tools to be the next dominate driver in the Sprint Cup circuit. Move over Jimmie Johnson, he is coming through!

Just imagine, if JGR could get the performance from their Sprint Cup teams in 2010 similar to the results that JGR received from the their two Nationwide teams in 2009, winning 22 out of 36 races, then Joe Gibbs Racing is a force to be reckoned with for 2010.

Who you think is the heir apparent to possibly replacing Hendrick Motorsports as the dominate race team in Sprint Cup?

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Kyle Busch Gets New Crew Chief

Leon — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:15:44 +0000

(photo courtesy of Leon Hammack)

Joe Gibbs Racing has just announced that following the race at Talladega this Sunday, Steve Addington will no longer serve as the #18 M&M’s Toyota crew chief. A JGR spokesman stated that Addington will be reassigned to another position within Joe Gibbs Racing.

Dave Rogers, who is in his fourth year as the crew chief of the Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Nationwide Toyota driven this season by the young phenom Joey Logano, will take over the helm of the #18 M&M’s Toyota. Rogers directed the #20 Nationwide Toyota to JGR’s only Nationwide championship to date in 2008. In the 2008 championship drive, Rogers led the team to 9 victories, 6 poles, 16 top five finishes, and 26 top ten finishes despite having 4 different drivers in the race car!

Under Rogers’ leadership, the JGR #20 Nationwide Toyota has captured 5 wins so far in 2009. Rogers joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 1998 and spent from 1999-2004 working under Greg Zipadelli with the #20 Home Depot Chevy at the time.

In 2005 JGR introduced the #11 FedEx Chevy driven then by Jason Leffler to NASCAR and Rogers was tabbed as the crew chief. Midway through the 2005 season Mike Ford assumed that position and Rogers was reassigned into the engineering department at JGR.

At the beginning of the 2006 season Rogers was assigned to the #20 Nationwide teams as crew chief. Since that time, Rogers has been the overseer of 20 Nationwide victories for the JGR#20 Nationwide team.

“We think highly of Steve and the job that he has done and we look forward to him remaining part of the JGR family”, Gibbs said.

“Dave has proven himself a talented crew chief and we think that he will work well with Kyle. We hope that by making the move after Talladega they can use the final three weeks of the season to begin working on the communication and setups for the 2010 season”, J.D. Gibbs continued.

The dominos are beginning to fall!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Chevy Rock and Roll 400

Leon — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:23:20 +0000

(photo by Leon Hammack)

He finally won a Cup race at his”home race track”, Richmond International Raceway! In spite of Denny Hamlin winning the Chevy Rock and Roll 400, he was only one part of the big story Saturday night in Richmond, VA. At the culmination of the Chevy Rock and Roll 400, the top 12 are set for this year’s “Chase for the Cup”! The contenders have a familiar ring for the most part, however, there are a few “newbies” in the class of 2009′s Chase for the Cup. ( More on those teams in another article later!)

The #11 FedEx Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the class of the field at Richmond International Raceway Saturday night! Hamlin led 298 out of the 400 laps that make up the race distance. This isn’t the first time that Hamlin has dominated the race at Richmond, however it was the first time the #11 FedEx Toyota scored a victory there!

Throughout the 400 lap race there were subplots and story lines running and changing with every lap of the race. Who is in the Chase and who is out of the Chase at that particular juncture of the race was changing constantly!! It made for good drama for the race fans at the track, as well as those watching on TV. The most interesting subplot for this reporter was the race between Brain Vickers and TLVW (The Las Vegas Weasel/Kyle Busch). They have some history from back at Michigan a few weeks ago, remember the race to the checkered flag that they both lost to one Brian Keselowski?? Both Vickers and ol Kylie Busch were racing for the last spot , 12th position in the Chase. Since Kenseth was having a terrible race, and had basically fallen out of 12th, these two were racing to fill that spot! At the end of the race, it was Brian Vickers who raced his way into 12th spot beating ol Kylie by a mere 8 points!

THAT IS DRAMA! (And TNT thinks they know drama??)

In addition to scoring the victory at Richmond, Hamlin takes a big bag of momentum with him to the start of the Chase next week at Louden, NH. It is important to go into this Chase for the Cup, a ten race shootout, with momentum on your side. There was pressure throughout the first 26 races on the race teams to make the Chase, but now the pressure really mounts and we can really separate the contenders from the pretenders!

Now that the 12 Chase contenders are identified, the teams now must size up their opponents, dig deep for additional strength and performance. It is time to see just what you are made out of for the next ten weeks!

REMEMBER, IF YOU CAN’T RUN WITH THE BIG DOGS, STAY ON THE PORCH!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!

Hamlin Wins at Pocono

Leon — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:46:24 +0000

(photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The rain postponed the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway until Monday. The clouds parted and the sun shined on the #11 FedEx JGR Toyota driven by Denny Hamlin. Hamlin bumped his way into the lead with ten laps to go when he “nudged” Bowyer and drove past him. The victory was the first for Hamlin in 50 races, which jumped him into 5th place in the Chase standings. His last victory was the 2008 spring race in Martinsville.

Since taking over the #11 FedEx Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin has scored 5 victories, three of them have come at Pocono Raceway! This race took on a very personal meaning for Denny and his family this week. Earlier in the week Denny Hamlin’s grandmother, Thelma Clark passed away. Obviously this was a very emotional victory for both Denny and the #11 FedEx team.

Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM) hung on to finish second at Pocono. This fortifies the #42 EGR Target Chevy team’s dominating run last week at Indianapolis. Last week JPM was the dominating race car but was penalized with a stop and go through of the pits, after he was issued a speeding ticket at Indianapolis last week. Nonetheless, another fine performance for JPM. With his second place finish, Montoya moved from 10th to 8th in the standings.

After this race the Chase standings got a little tighter. Some of those outside the top 12 “leap frogged” either closer to, or into the top 12! Time is running out on those that are either outside of the top 12, or who are beginning to slump in their performance!

This is the time that if you got anything for the leaders, “you got to get up on the wheel and let the big dog eat”!!

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!