NASCAR
Joe Gibbs Racing Nearing 200th Cup Series Victory, Who Will Get it?
As of Kyle Busch’s Bristol Dirt win, Joe Gibbs Racing stands at 196 NASCAR Cup Series victories. 200 is not far off in the horizon, as JGR will likely eclipse this milestone in 2022. With four top teams capable of winning almost every week, which driver will give Coach Gibbs his 200th NASCAR win? Hear from all four drivers below on what it would mean to them to earn this special win for the Hall of Fame owner.
196 wins at the time of this writing has Joe Gibbs Racing as the third-winningest team in NASCAR history. The Coach only trails Hendrick Motorsports (284) and Petty Enterprises (268) in most wins by a team. JGR would likewise be only the third organization in NASCAR history to surpass 200 total Cup Series victories.
Some landmark wins for JGR include their first victory, coming at the hands of Dale Jarrett in the 1993 Daytona 500. Win 50 came with Tony Stewart, also at Daytona, in July 2006. The century mark was hit by Denny Hamlin at New Hampshire in 2012. Lastly, Kyle Busch got the team their 150th win at Bristol in 2018.
11 drivers have won a Cup race for Joe Gibbs Racing since 1993. Kyle Busch leads all-time JGR winners with 54 victories for Coach. Of current drivers, all of Denny Hamlin’s 47 career wins have also come with JGR. Since taking over the 19 in 2019, Martin Truex Jr. has 12 wins, while Christopher Bell also has one win.
Denny Hamlin
“It would be special for sure,” Hamlin said. “Those big wins like that seem to be celebrated just a little bit more for sure. It’s good. It’s good for your confidence I’d say. That’s pretty much the gist of it. That’s a lot of wins. Certainly I remember the 100th came in Loudon or something like that. It just basically means that I’ve been around a very long time.”
Hamlin has been JGR’s winningest driver since 2020, with 10 victories over the past three seasons. Driver 11 is also the longest-tenured JGR competitor, racing for the Coach since 2006. Should the 11 team get on a roll this spring and summer, Hamlin could end in victory lane multiple times. However, with the very week-to-week status of Toyota with the Next Gen car, JGR could be waiting awhile to break into the 200 win club. Aside from his recent Richmond win, Hamlin’s 2022 has been a season to forget. 2021 only saw Hamlin win twice, both coming in the Playoffs, so it could be awhile before the 11 finds victory lane again.
Kyle Busch
“It would be special, it would mean a lot,” Busch said. “But it’s not that big of a deal, I got the most of them.”
Already a winner this year at Bristol Dirt, Busch is very capable of delivering Coach Gibbs his 200th checkered flag. All but four of Busch’s 60 career wins have come with JGR, a testament to both his talent and staying power with such an elite team. Driver 18 is far from a stranger to winning on a variety of track types, so he could get this landmark win just about anywhere.
Martin Truex Jr.
“I didn’t know that,” Truex said of JGR being near the 200th win. “That’d be awesome, be really cool. I’m honestly just happy I’ve been able to contribute some of those wins, and it’s been an awesome place to race. Coach has been a great leader for the team. It’s been fun to be around him, and it’d be pretty special to get that 200th.”
Martin Truex Jr’s brief tenure at Gibbs has seen very high and likewise low points. In 2019, MTJ won a series-best seven times. In 2020 however, the 19 only visited victory lane once. Last season, Truex won three times early in the season, and the Richmond Playoff race. With no wins so far this year, Truex may be regressing from his 2019 win total. His four wins from a season ago are far more reachable than seven. Despite that, the company as a whole only needs a few more to make it to 200. Truex could easily be the driver to give Gibbs this honor, as he is strong at several upcoming tracks.
Christopher Bell
“It would be really cool,” Bell said of the chance of him getting this milestone win. “195.. So we got 5 more, it would be even better if I could get the next five.” Shortly after Bell said this, Busch did get JGR win number 196 at Bristol Dirt.
With only one win to his name, Christopher Bell is perhaps on the cusp of a breakout season. After starting the year off with back-to-back DNFs, Bell has climbed to 15th in points. Three top-10s in the last four races see the 20 trending closer to the front of the pack on a regular basis. Should Bell find victory lane in the coming weeks, this could set off a great summer stretch for team 20. Bell was especially stout on road courses last year, so he has a few future races in particular circled on his calendar.
Already a Hall of Fame owner, Joe Gibbs’ legacy is only continually building onward and upward in this sport. With four of the best drivers and teams in the garage, it appears to be a mere formality for when JGR takes their 200th win. Where this win will come, and who takes that checkered flag both remain unanswered questions. However, we all may find out the answers very soon.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR
