RICHMOND, Va. — Prior to Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Joe Gibbs Racing hadn’t been to victory lane since last September when Denny Hamlin put the No. 11 Fedex Camry in the winner’s circle at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Since then, the organization has been through a slump, in large part due to the introduction of the NextGen car.
“I think for me, I was kind of really honed in on the previous generation car on each track,” Hamlin said. “(I) had enough notes and enough track memory, at each one of them to know what I was searching for, a feel that was correct, and won races.
“The challenge to this one is figuring out what this car likes, how it makes speed,” Hamlin continued. “I got to start all over again when I come to these race tracks. That’s the biggest challenge of it beyond any shifting, braking or steering, anything like that. Those are all challenges, but it’s more just figuring out what makes this car tick and what makes it go around the race track in the shortest amount of time, and what is my role in that.”
Hamlin, who went into Richmond 22nd in points, had his fair share of struggles through the first six races of the season. However, he feels those struggles could’ve been pointed in a more positive direction had those races gone the teams’ way.
“The first six races haven’t gone great, but we’ve had some — over half of them we’ve had winning cars,” Hamlin said. “I know that sounds crazy, but Daytona I’m sure we would be fine, Atlanta we were good, Vegas, I thought we had a great shot to win there. There have been some struggles in the other ones.”
Even through the hardships of the early season, team owner Joe Gibbs knew the slump wasn’t from a lack of effort.
“I think what this shows is how hard it is because we got great people working really hard,” Gibbs said. “I always give credit to the people that found it, they go after it, they’re winning races. That’s what we want to do.”
Throughout the course of Hamlin’s 18-year career with Joe Gibbs Racing, he’s seen the ups and downs that can happen over the course of a season.
What he’s pinpointed through his experience is that with the right pieces together, luck will eventually turn itself around.
“I don’t get too panicked because, like we talked about with the team, they just have so many good people that eventually it works itself out,” Hamlin said. “You can’t just continue to have cautions not fall your way, get run into here and there.
“The odds are, if you keep banging on the door, it’s going to open,” Hamlin continued. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Crew Chief Chris Gabehart continued Hamlin’s thoughts and said that despite the uncertainty of the new car, having a complete team around the No. 11 will help them surge forward into the rest of the season.
“Right now, there’s just a lot of uncertainty,” Gabehart said. “Denny, I know has been beating the drum on it a lot. You’re going to see comers and goers very quickly in the standings right now. It’s just because things are so new.
“(There’s) too many good people,” Gabehart continued. “You got Toyota, FedEx, Joe Gibbs Racing, all the brilliant people I get to work with day in, day out. You ain’t going to hold people back. You just got to keep working, stay the course and you’ll get your wins.”