Ages from now when a young boy looks up the statistics of the 2024 Cup Series season on the internet he is likely to believe that Joe Gibbs Racing won the championship. Such was the impressiveness of the numbers that the team’s four drivers raked in over the year. However, the trophy ended up slipping from their hands and fit snugly into those of Team Penske. How did this happen?
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Kyle Petty broke the reasons down on GoPRNLive. The former driver believes that the issue lies in the mindset of each of the drivers and not on the team collectively or on the equipment.
First, Martin Truex Jr. This was the 44-year-old’s final full-time season in the Cup Series and Petty’s contention is that no driver, no matter how good he is, can perform at the highest level in his last season.
He said, “Anytime a driver says this is my last year they don’t win because that little bit of edge has gone away … Truex was just not in the game and I will go to my grave saying that.”
Next up, Ty Gibbs. The youngster is still only learning the ropes of racing at the Cup level. He can lead races and plenty of laps but isn’t quite there in regards to closing things out.
Putting a whole race together and reaching victory is still not within his reach. Petty said of him, “We’ve seen it with so many young drivers that come in. They have those moments. They run up front but they’ve got to put a whole race together.”
The No. 54 driver had an exemplary season with plenty of top-5s and top-10s. However, he did end up outside the top 30 in the last five races of the season as well.
Reasons behind the failures of Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell
Huge hopes were pinned on Hamlin and Bell. But the former had other things on his mind. Literally. As a co-owner of 23XI Racing, he had to focus on improving the performances of his drivers and on creating a successful organization in motorsports.
Moreover, he was also caught in the middle of the charter negotiation storm. Petty noted that these factors are what took his mind off the No. 11 car.
Bell, on the other hand, was exemplary throughout the season for the most part. But the issue was that he couldn’t convert some great performances into victories.
Petty said, “Show me you can close a race. Show me you can do something besides in stage one and stage two. We saw him in stage one and stage two yesterday and then he’s not there in stage three. That’s his M.O.”
End of the day, Joe Gibbs Racing just fell apart after a hard season. The height of their performance is reflected by the fact that the drivers combined to lead 3,060 laps over the season. No team managed more. Perhaps they will bounce back next season with Chase Briscoe joining the fold in place of Truex.
