Joe Gibbs Racing Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Ahead of next Sunday’s Daytona 500, the 44 hopeful entrants into the Great American Race took to Daytona’s high banks to set the front row and the lineups for Thursday’s CanAm Duel qualifying races. After last season’s attempt at group qualifying, which turned into an unmitigated disaster, NASCAR made the decision to move back to single car runs for qualifying on Sunday. The new format would consist of two rounds in which all 44 cars would post a time in the first round and then theRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor We already knew that Kyle Busch had elected to skip all NASCAR XFINITY Series events at restrictor plate tracks in 2016, but Wednesday Joe Gibbs Racing announced a surprise driver who would step into the No. 18 NOS Energy Toyota Camry during the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway — Bobby Labonte. Labonte is the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, and his rise to fame in the sport came during his days running the No. 18 car, that Kyle Busch currently drives, for Joe GibbsRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Joe Gibbs Racing has announced that they’ve added 19-year-old Matt Tifft to drive their No. 18 NASCAR XFINITY Series car for 13 races in 2016. “I am honored to have the opportunity to work with Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2016 season. I feel after our run last year at Kentucky that this is a great fit for me with an outstanding and well-respected organization, and I look forward to a very exciting and successful year driving the No. 18 Toyota Camry,” Tifft said in aRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor We are less than 20 days away from the official start of the 2016 NASCAR season. For the next ten months battles will be waged on short tracks, big tracks and tracks that have right handed turns mixed in. Around every turn a storyline will develop, and a new headline will be etched into everyone’s mind. But we’re still days away from the spawning of the 2016 season. Right now my job is to predict exactly what will happen in the 2016 season. Chances are I willRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Was there any better feel-good story in 2015 than Martin Truex Jr.? The man — who many feel is one of the nicest in the garage area — had been thrown through the ringer for a couple of seasons. His ride at Michael Waltrip Racing was lost following the 2013 season. Truex then landed at a single-car Furniture Row Racing team and proceeded to struggle in 2014. His long-time girlfriend and companion, Sherry Pollex, was in a battle for her life against ovarian cancer. Truex’s personal life and careerRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service Charlotte, N.C. – Joe Gibbs knows how difficult it is to repeat as champion. Although he won three NFL Super Bowls as coach of the Washington Redskins, none of those titles came in consecutive seasons. “In pro sports, I think the hardest thing is to stay up (on top) because once you have a great year everybody else is pointing or looking at you,” said Gibbs, speaking on “Toyota Tuesday”, the first stop on the 34th annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour presented byRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—At age 30, Kyle Busch completed the transformation from rowdy rebel to deserving champion on Sunday, securing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title in a campaign which defied all odds. The season, which began disastrously with a crash at Daytona in February, ended in victory lane at Homestead-Miami Speedway with his wife, newborn son, and a cascade of M&Ms, courtesy of his primary sponsor. “It’s pretty unbelievable—a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true,” Busch said. “I just can’t believe it withRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Finishing off one of the most remarkable comebacks in NASCAR history—indeed, in the annals of sport—Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and, with it, his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship. Absent from the first 11 races of the season because of a broken right leg and left foot sustained in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona in February, Busch pulled away from fellow Championship Round driver Kevin Harvick after a restart with seven laps left and crossedRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Team owner Joe Gibbs sees Daniel Suárez as a big part of the future – not only for NASCAR but for his team. Part of the equation is about the 23-year-old’s talents as the driver who just earned Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Suárez moved up to fifth in the final series standings with his sixth-place effort in Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But a lot of it is about howRead More

By Seth Livingstone, NASCAR Wire Service HOMESTEAD, Fla.—Kyle Larson took out a season of frustration on the NASCAR XFINITY Series field Saturday in the season finale, tracking down Austin Dillon in the closing laps to win the Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway by slightly less than a second. Despite Larson’s dominance in leading 118 of 200 laps, Chris Buescher ran a clean race, finishing 11th to clinch his first XFINITY Series title. Buescher came into the race needing to finish 13th or better to guarantee himself the championship. AfterRead More