| | HISTORY IN THE MAKING | Toyota, Busch add wrinkles to talented but volatile JG Racing | |
| | By Pete Pistone / CBSSports.com After leading the Washington Redskins to three Super Bowl titles in 12 seasons, Joe Gibbs became a NASCAR team owner in 1992. Dale Jarrett scored the team's first win in the 1993 Daytona 500, and JGR grew into one of the sport's powerhouses, winning three titles with Bobby Labonte and two-time champion Tony Stewart.
Gibbs returned to the NFL in 2004, but the team is still going strong under the day-to-day operation of son J.D., growing into a three-car stable with 58 career victories through 2007.
Season review
Controversy and success punctuated JGR's 2007 season, a year that included three wins for Stewart and one for Denny Hamlin with both qualifying for the Chase.
But Stewart stirred up a firestorm in April when he likened NASCAR to professional wrestling.
"It's like playing God," Stewart said on his weekly radio program, referring to NASCAR's decisions of when and when not to display caution flags for debris. "They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It's happened too many times this year."
"I guess NASCAR thinks 'Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it's going to work in racing, too,'" he said. "I can't understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they're stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.
"I don't know that they've run a fair race all year."
Stewart later apologized after meeting with NASCAR, but his words seriously hurt the sport's credibility with both racing and general sports fans.
Stewart and Hamlin got into controversy again later at Daytona during the midsummer Pepsi 400. They made contact with each other early, an incident that touched off a wild melee. Stewart thought Hamlin was to blame.
"The No. 11 just stopped for no reason, right in the middle of Turn 4," Stewart said. "I'm sure he was getting tight because for three laps in a row we were catching him through the center and the exit of the corner. All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of 4 in front of 42 cars and I guess expects all of us to drive around him."
"I mean he's a young guy and he wants to be successful, but I don't know if he knows the definition of 'team' right now," Stewart said.
The feud simmered for several days before Joe Gibbs flew into Chicago before the next race to meet with his disgruntled teammates and settle things down.
Even with the controversies, Stewart and Hamlin both turned in solid seasons. Stewart notched 11 top five and 23 top 10 finishes along with his three victories and returned to the Chase after missing the playoffs the previous year. He finished sixth in the final standings.
Hamlin's sophomore Cup season featured 12 top five and 18 top tens in addition to the victory at New Hampshire in July, all adding up to a 12th-place finish in the final points.
J.J. Yeley struggled through a disappointing year in the team's No. 18 entry, ending his third year with JGR 21st in the standings and eventually losing his ride to newcomer Kyle Busch for 2008.
2008 preview
Busch joining is only one of the big changes in store for the team, which will switch from Chevrolet to Toyota.
The addition of Gibbs gives the manufacturer an alignment with one of the sport's premier teams, a move Toyota hopes will have a halo effect on its other Cup stables, which struggled mightily in 2007.
Team review/preview
Date Team
Dec. 3 Wood Brothers
Dec. 6 Petty Enterprises
Dec. 10 Waltrip Racing
Dec. 13 Gillett-Evernham
Dec. 17 Yates Racing
Dec. 20 Ganassi Racing
Dec. 24 Penske Racing
Dec. 27 DEI
Dec. 31 RCR
Jan. 3 Gibbs Racing
Jan. 7 Roush-Fenway
Jan. 10 Hendrick Motorsports
"Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the most respected teams in NASCAR, a championship-caliber race team and a first-class organization," said Jim Aust, vice president of Toyota Motorsports and president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development USA. "We are confident that partnering with the Gibbs team will raise the level of our entire Toyota NASCAR program and will be beneficial to all of our current teams racing the Toyota Camry."
Stewart says switching to Toyota will benefit JGR, which will become the manufacturer's lead Cup operation, a change from its relationship and status with Chevy and General Motors.
"The only way you constantly stay ahead of the game is to put yourself in position to be leaders, not followers," Stewart said. "So I'm excited about it. It's a good opportunity for us to take a leadership stand."
The addition of Busch to the stable brings another talented, yet sometimes emotional driver to the JGR squad.
But J.D. Gibbs foresees nothing but success with what he considers to be three of the top drivers in NASCAR now under his roof.
"I think if you offered Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch to most guys out there, they'd do that at all costs to make that work," Gibbs said. "You're talking about three guys that can obviously perform on the track.
"I think these guys put us in a great position as a team going forward. ... We want to be a family-owned business for a long time to come. There are only a handful of teams that haven't made some type of merger. For us, we just want to stay kind of the way we are and grow and continue to win races and championships for a long time."
JGR will make history in 2008 by bringing Toyota its first Cup win. Stewart, Hamlin and Busch will all contend for wins as well as qualify for the Chase. The only thing standing in the way of a stellar season is the volatile personalities of the trio of drivers. If the chemistry works, Joe Gibbs Racing has the potential for winning what would be an historic fourth Cup title.
| | Posted January 04, 2008 , 4:02 pm EST
Last Updated January 04, 2008 , 4:03 pm EST | | | | | | |
