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‘Game On’: Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs Feud Sours The Mood At Joe Gibbs Racing

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Denny Hamlin, Ty Gibbs

The mood around Joe Gibbs Racing could not have been any better following the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

With JGR’s three playoff drivers — Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell — having collectively swept the Round of 16, the company seemed to be hitting on all cylinders.

Then came this past Sunday’s Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. First, JGR saw its three-race winning streak come to an end. Of far greater concern, though, was that two JGR drivers — Hamlin and non-playoff driver Ty Gibbs — left New England at odds with each other.

Now the question is whether the two can totally bury the hatchet so their differences don’t become a hindrance to three-time Daytona 500 winner Hamlin’s quest to capture an elusive first Cup Series championship.

Briscoe and Bell, likewise, are trying to win their first championship for the company. So, the rift between Hamlin and Gibbs could affect them, as well, if it hampers overall chemistry within the organization.

Before delving into where things stand this weekend at Kansas Speedway, however, let’s first review what went sideways between Hamlin and Gibbs at New Hampshire.

How Did Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs Become Unlikely Adversaries?

Battling for position before the halfway point at New Hampshire, Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs tangled in dramatic fashion. Here’s what happened in a nutshell: Hamlin got upset that his teammate, a non-championship contender, was racing him extra-hard. So, he wrecked him.

What happened on the racetrack was really no more complicated than that.

Far more complicating is the fact that Ty Gibbs, despite being the only JGR driver not in the playoffs, is the grandson of the team’s owner and founder, Joe Gibbs.

Given that relationship, Hamlin — despite being unhappy — seemed to choose his words carefully when discussing how he believed the younger Gibbs should have cut him some slack on the racetrack.

“I’ll let (JGR) leadership kind of quarterback it however they’d like to. But, obviously, us and the 20 (Christopher Bell) and 19 (Chase Briscoe) are all trying to win a championship for their family,” Hamlin said after the race. “So, it’s crazy unfortunate why we’re racing the way we are.”

Hamlin was less tactful over his No. 11 team’s radio before running into Gibbs.

“Does Ty know we’re going for a championship?” he said. “What the (expletive)?”

Gibbs had very little to say after the race. But he did, quite conspicuously, say, “game on,” over his No. 54 team’s radio after getting wrecked. In spite of this, Hamlin indicated after the race that he wasn’t concerned about any future retaliation from Gibbs.

But the next day, on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Hamlin lamented the implications of Gibbs’ aggression on JGR’s title bid.

“This thing is hard enough to win, anyway,” he said. “But if you’re going to have to race your teammates harder than anyone on the racetrack, then this will be really, really tough for any one of us to win.”

Talking Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin Strikes More Conciliatory Tone At Kansas Speedway

Now that a few days have passed since his run-in with Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin seems more at peace about where things stand between the two of them.

“I think they are in a good place,” Hamlin said on Saturday at Kansas Speedway, where he qualified second and teammate Chase Briscoe won the pole. “We had some meetings this week. And they were all productive meetings.”

After for who said what in those meetings, Hamlin wouldn’t elaborate.

“The guts of that are going to be confidential,” he said.

Hamlin did indicate that the four JGR drivers each shared their thoughts. Apparently, the organization also attempted to reach some consensus on how its drivers should race each other.

“All the drivers had an opportunity to speak and try to come up with a plan,” Hamlin said. “We did our best to come up with one.”

Hamlin also admitted Saturday at Kansas that he has some regrets about how he handled the New Hampshire situation with Ty Gibbs, who qualified sixth on Saturday at Kansas.

“Certainly, absolutely,” Hamlin said. “I definitely got hot under the collar. And it went too far on my end. There was things I wish I could have done a little bit differently.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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