NASCAR and the NFL are two extreme opposites. A common link between them that would pop up in anyone’s mind is Joe Gibbs. The popular NASCAR team owner served as the head coach of the NFL team, the Washington Redskins, from 1981 to 1992 and then from 2004 to 2007, winning three Super Bowls over 16 years. In 1992, he and his two sons, J.D. Gibbs and Coy Gibbs, founded Joe Gibbs Racing. So, what or who inspired him to get into the boundaries of racing after such an illustrious football career?
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He spoke about the process in a 2015 interview with Sports Illustrated. It all began with a deep love for motorsports and the will to try something new. He said,
“When my son J.D. graduated from college, he said, “Dad, rather than do something in coaching and football, I’d rather do something in motorsports.” He got me thinking. We had been big motorsports fans: J.D., my other son, Coy, and I went to races. I got hooked when I was a teenager.” And so, the idea was birthed.
But there was still a long way to go. So, Gibbs put together a proposal for sponsors to look at. The second company that he visited with the dream in hand was Interstate Batteries, and that meeting changed many lives altogether. He struck a special chord with the company’s chairman, Norm Miller, and things fell in the right spots abruptly.
He recalled, “We all hit it off. Of all things, he said, ‘Hey, let’s do this.’ I tell Norm to this day, ‘You’re the only guy dumb enough to do that.’ We got a founding sponsor, and we wound up racing.” Joe Gibbs Racing has won five Cup Series championships since that day. Miller and Gibbs both got more than what they bargained for.
How Gibbs decided what his role in his race team was to be
The NFL was a field in which Gibbs was a strong expert. He knew how plays had to be made to win the day. But this wasn’t the case in NASCAR. He was just a fan of the sport and not technically sound at it. Realization of this shortcoming led him to focus on what he was good at — hiring and managing the right people.
He said in an interview with Cars and Culture, “I tell everybody my thrill in football was every Sunday, being on the sidelines and calling a play. My thrill over here is the first of every month trying to pay the bills.” Every bit of success that he has found in motorsports has stemmed from this maturity to realize his strengths and play to them.
In 2025, Joe Gibbs Racing takes another step towards building a future-oriented team. Following the veteran racer Martin Truex Jr.’s retirement, the keys of his No. 19 Toyota Camry have been handed to Chase Briscoe. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Ty Gibbs join him in the mission to bring home yet another championship.
