As if the shift into a disastrous playoff campaign from a stellar regular season championship win for Martin Truex Jr. wasn’t bad enough for Joe Gibbs Racing, the recent drop in form from the #11 team led by Denny Hamlin has only made matters worse. Heading into the playoffs, the #19 and the #11 were two of the favorites to enter the final 4.
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But now with just one race left in the playoffs, Hamlin and Truex are both below the cut line, or in other words, effectively out of championship contention in Phoenix. This, by all accounts, is a big disappointment.
And it wasn’t lost on Coach Gibbs.
Joe Gibbs touches on ‘real disappointments’ with Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.
Speaking in a post-race interview, Gibbs opened up on his thoughts about the Hamlin-Truex situation. The team owner admitted that while it is disappointing, this current situation, it isn’t over until Martinsville. “It’s hard to get in the final 4, I’ll tell you that,” Gibbs said.
“I don’t think anything’s a given and certainly the #19, all they did in the regular season and as good as they are, but we’ve had real disappointments with everything that has happened. I think the #11 has been pretty consistent up until the last couple of weeks.”
“The great thing is we’ve got three cars from our team who have a chance and so we’ve still got a chance. That’s the way we look at it. Going to Martinsville, it’s going to be a classic I’m sure, but we do have a chance. We’re gonna go there with both Denny & Martin.”
Joe Gibbs on the fact that both Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. enter Martinsville at 17 points below the cutline: pic.twitter.com/WZw9VVZS4T
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 23, 2023
Denny Hamlin has more or less just one option heading into Martinsville
After he exited from the race at Homestead because of what looked like, a mechanical issue that left his car hitting the wall, Denny Hamlin opened up on more or less the only option he has now to enter the final 4. “I pretty much got to win,” Hamlin said as per NBC Sports. “We were in this situation last year and we dominated the race (at Martinsville before finishing fifth).”
Hamlin added that in the last two seasons, they have dominated the fall race at Martinsville. And if all goes well, that could be the case next Sunday as well. However, that would only make one JGR car in crisis change their fortunes. Because Martin Truex Jr. too would be eyeing just the same result, a win.
So fans could very well see a race in which two teammates are fighting for the same result.
