Joe Gibbs Racing Led Hendrick Motorsports and Field in Key NASCAR Stat in 2023. Can 2024 Lead to a Title?

During the closing stages of the 2023 Cup Series championship, there was a time when it did seem like the Championship Four would translate into a face-off between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. In the end, however, despite leading HMS in a key NASCAR stat, it didn’t end well for the Toyota team.

Through the able hands of seasoned drivers like Martin Truex Jr., Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing topped the list of teams ranked according to the number of laps led throughout the entire season.

With a relatively good run across the season, including their most-coveted win number 300 at Texas Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports led 2441 laps throughout the year. But JGR completely demolished that number, leading a whopping 2608 laps at the Cup level.

Laps led by team in 2023

(Percentages in comments) pic.twitter.com/49JDggT2aS

— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) January 5, 2024

Unfortunately, that did not help Denny Hamlin win his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series championship, and neither did it allow the regular season points champion, Truex Jr. to grab his second titular win.

A sorry season for Joe Gibbs Racing

Despite amassing three wins at Kansas, Pocono, and Bristol besides 14 top-five and 19 top-ten finishes, a series of mishaps ruined Denny Hamlin’s playoff run. With his Bristol win, Hamlin clinched a spot in the round of eight.

However, the #11 icon could put up nothing better than a tenth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The following week, a mechanical failure ruined his day at Homestead-Miami, and he had to settle for a disappointing 30th-place finish.

The ten-race-long playoff stint was nothing better for the 2017 Cup Series champion, Truex Jr. Even though he equaled his teammate in the number of wins, the number 19 pilot, too, failed to make it out of the round of eight at Martinsville Speedway.

Throughout his entire playoff journey, the Stafford native had only three top-15 finishes and all three of them came in the last four races. In the previous six races, his best performance was a 17th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. Needless to say, 2023 was his second consecutive playoff journey, that turned into a literal nightmare.