Joe Gibbs Racing
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| Owner(s) | Joe Gibbs J. D. Gibbs |
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| Base | Huntersville, North Carolina |
| Series | Sprint Cup SeriesNationwide Series |
| Race drivers | Sprint Cup Series: 11. Denny Hamlin 18. Kyle Busch 20. Joey Logano Nationwide Series: 8. Denny Hamlin 11. Brian Scott 18. Denny Hamlin / Michael McDowell 20. Joey Logano / Denny Hamlin |
| Sponsors | Sprint Cup Series:11. FedEx 18. M&M's 20. The Home DepotNationwide Series:18. Z-Line Designs20. GamestopSport Clips |
| Manufacturer | Toyota |
| Career | |
| Debut | 1992 Daytona 500 |
| Drivers' Championships | Sprint Cup Series:(2000, 2002, 2005)Nationwide Series:(2008, 2009, 2010) |
| Race victories | 154 |
| Pole positions | 112 |
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is a group of NASCAR racing teams owned and operated by former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991, and J. D. Gibbs, his son. Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, near Charlotte, the team amassed three Sprint Cup championships since the year 2000 and participated in other lower-tier NASCAR series for driver development, winning one championship in the East Division of the NASCAR Camping World. For the team's first sixteen seasons, JGR ran cars from General Motors. During that period the team won their three championships, two in Pontiac Grand Prixes and one in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Despite this, JGR felt as if they weren't as important as some of the other GM teams such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing. Therefore, during the 2007 season Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would be ending their arrangement with GM at the end of the year and begin running Toyotas the following season. Since then, JGR has become the strongest and winningest Toyota team.
The team currently fields the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry for Denny Hamlin, the #18 M&M's/Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry for Kyle Busch, and the #20 The Home Depot/Dollar General Toyota Camry for Joey Logano in the Sprint Cup Series. They also field the #11 Dollar General Toyota Camry for Brian Scott, the #18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry for Hamlin and other drivers, and the #20 GameStop/Sport Clips Toyota Camry for Logano and Hamlin.
Contents |
[edit] Sprint Cup
[edit] Car #02 History
JGR occasionally fields a fourth car for R&D purposes. In 2007, Aric Almirola made his NEXTEL Cup debut in the #80 car at Las Vegas. He was scheduled to drive at the all-star race and Coca-Cola 600, but he suffered a practice crash and the car was withdrawn from both races. In 2008, Joey Logano drove this car, renumbered as 02, with The Home Depot sponsorship and a reverse scheme of teammate Tony Stewart's. He was to make his Sprint Cup debut at Richmond International Raceway, but qualifying was rained out by Tropical Storm Hanna and at Atlanta qualifying was rained out so he could not race. This car returned in 2009 with sponsorship from Farm Bureau Insurance, who had been banned from the Nationwide Series due to the Viceroy Rule. David Gilliland drove in the three races it ran. After the 2009 season, Farm Bureau Insurance announced they would not return for the 2010 season, plans have not been announced yet for this team.
[edit] Car #11 History
Previously JGR's research and development car, what is now the #11 car debuted at the 2003 Pepsi 400 as #80, driven by Mike Bliss and sponsored by Advair and finishing 26th. The car remained idle until the 2004 Tropicana 400, when Bliss finished 31st in the ConAgra/Slim Jim machine. After a fourth place finish in the fall race at Richmond International Raceway, The team switched to #11, and Ricky Craven finished 30th at Talladega, and J. J. Yeley running two races in the car. The car went full-time in 2005, receiving sponsorship from FedEx and Jason Leffler driving. Leffler was released after struggling in 19 starts and Yeley, Terry Labonte, and Denny Hamlin finished out the season with Mike Ford replacing Dave Rogers as the crew chief. Hamlin had the most starts (7) and finished in the top 10 three times. He was awarded the #11 FedEx Express full-time ride in 2006 in addition to his full-time Busch schedule in the #20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. By the end of July 2006, Hamlin had three poles and three victories (the Budweiser Shootout and both Pocono Raceway races) to give the rookie a berth in the Chase for the Cup, where he would finish 3rd in points. In 2007, Hamlin won the first of two races at New Hampshire International Speedway in 2007, and finished 12th in points. In 2008, Hamlin won the Gatorade Duel and the first race at Martinsville Speedway, and improved to eighth in points. He qualified for the Chase again in 2009 after winning two races at Pocono Raceway and Richmond International Raceway. He ended the season with four victories after winning Martinsville and Homestead-Miami Speedway in the chase.
2010 was Hamlin and the 11 team's breakout year. The won at Martinsville and Denny followed the win by having knee surgery. After the surgery the team won 4 of the nxt 10 races at Texas, Darlington, Pocono and Michigan. The team made the chase after another win at Richmond. The team won races during the chase at Martinsville and Texas and held the points lead going into the season finale. However, an early wreck would put them behind the competition, and Hamlin wound up finishign second to Jimmie Johnson during the 2010 chase. Hamlin later admitted to putting too much pressure on himself during the Chase, which mentally impacted him. As a result, Mike Ford took a "no compromise" attitude for 2011, hoping to right the ship. However, the team struggled throughout 2011, with multiple blown engines and a single win at Michigan to push the #11 into the Chase. Hamlin would finish 9th in the final standings. At season's end, Mike Ford was released as crew chief and was replaced by former Stewart-Haas Racing crew chief Darian Grubb. Under Darian Grubb the team started 2012 off in the best way possible by winning the second race at Phoenix.
[edit] Car #18 History
Joe Gibbs Racing debuted at the 1992 Daytona 500 with Dale Jarrett driving the car to a 36th place finish after a crash. The team improved dramatically the next year, when Jarrett won the Daytona 500, and finished a then career-high 4th in points.
After Jarrett slipped to 16th in points in 1994, Bobby Labonte took over, and drove the car until the end of 2005. Labonte won 21 races in the car, and won the then Winston Cup championship in 2000. Since then, Labonte had slipped, as his best finish in the points since then is 6th in 2001, and has not won since 2003 season finale at Homestead. The team was progressing in 2004 until the team made a midseason firing of crew chief Michael McSwain, and Brandon Thomas took over for the rest of the season. Steve Addington, a Gibbs Busch Series crew chief, was named new crew chief for the 2005 season, but a rash of troubles, some caused by mechanical problems, continued to daunt the team, including a loss in the final turn at the Coca-Cola 600, and a poor finish in the 2005 season led to a split between Labonte and JGR after 11 seasons. After Labonte's departure, Gibbs announced that Busch Series driver J. J. Yeley would replace Labonte in the #18 for 2006 and 2007. Yeley raced two seasons for Gibbs, and after failing to finish higher than 21st in points, he moved to Hall of Fame Racing.
On August 14, 2007, Kyle Busch signed a contract to drive the number 18 with Joe Gibbs Racing through 2010. M&Ms will sponsor the Gibbs #18 car in 2008, with Interstate Batteries dropping down to sponsor the team's #18 Nationwide Series car. Kyle Busch gave Toyota its first Cup win on March 9, 2008. Busch led a race-high 173 laps to win the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In his first year in the 18, Busch had brought the car back to its former glory, winning 7 other races at Talladega, Darlington, Dover, Infineon, Daytona, Chicagoland,and Watkins Glen all after only the first 23 races. In 2009 he won the Gatorade Duel, Las Vegas, Richmond and both Bristol races, but failed to qualify for the Chase by only 8 points. As a result, longtime JGR crew chief Steve Addington was fired near the end of the season, and coincidentally went to crew chief for Kyle's brother Kurt Busch at Penske Racing. Dave Rogers, Busch's Nationwide Series crew chief, took over the pit box in 2010. The year produced 3 victories at Richmond, Dover and Brostol, but another struggle in the final 10 races to finish 7th in the standings. 2011 was a definite up and down year for the 18 team. The team won at Bristol and Richmond early in the season, as well as the inaugural Cup race at Kentucky and the August race at Michigan. However, the team struggled through the beginning of the 2011, but pulled up to 4th after finishign 2nd at Charlotte. However, Busch was parked by NASCAR for intentionally spinning out Ron Hornaday in the Texas Truck race, and the ban extended to include the Nationwide and Cup series races at Texas. Hamlin and Michael McDowell would replace Busch that weekend, but the damage had been done. Mars, Inc., as a result of the incident, removed its name off of the car for the rest of 2011, and Busch was unable to dig himself out of 12th place in the Chase standings.
[edit] Car #20 History
Tony Stewart trotted out the #20 Home Depot car at the 1999 Daytona 500, qualifying on the outside pole. He won three races at Richmond, Phoenix and Homestead as well as the Winston Open and the NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and finished 4th in points.
2000 was an up and down year for the 20 team as they won 6 races in their sophomore year including both Dover races, Martinsville, New Hampshire, Michigan and Homestead but only finished 6th in points. 2001 was another good year for the 20 team as they won the Budweiser Shootout, Richmond, Infineon and Watkins Glen and finished 2nd in the overall standings.
2002 was a break-out year with wins at Atlanta, Richmond and Watkins Glen along with the Budweiser Shootout and the team won the 2002 championship. In 2003 the team had struggles but managed 2 wins at Pocono and Charlotte and finished 7th in points. In 2004 the team had a similar year to 2003 with 2 wins and finished 6th in points in the first ever chase.
He won his second championship in 2005. After winning the Gatorade Duel, the team didn't win again until Infineon and went on to win at Daytona, New Hampshire, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen and held the championship through the chase to become the champion. 2006 wasn't the teams best year. After winning early at Martinsville, Stewart suffered and injury at Charlotte and was replaced during Dover. He won again at Daytona but missed the chase. during the chase the team won 3 races at Kansas, Atlanta and Texas and finished 11th in points. 2007 was a good year for the team. They started off winning the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel but an early wreck smashed his Daytona 500 hopes. The team won 3 races though at Chicagoland, Indianapolis and Watkins Glen and finished 6th in points. In 2008 the team struggle getting a lot of second place finishes. On June 9th, 2008, Stewart was granted a release from his final year of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and will move to Haas CNC Racing, renamed Stewart-Haas Racing due to Stewart's 50% ownership. On August 25th, 2008, Joe Gibbs Racing announced Joey Logano would replace Stewart as the driver of the #20 car for the 2009 season in the NSCS. Stewart managed to get a win during the chase at Tallaega and finished 9th in points.
In 2009 Logano won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won Rookie of the Year with seven top-ten finishes. he team finished 20th in points. Logano failed to win in 2010 and finished 16th in points. In 2011 the team was again was winless and finished 24th in points. On October 13th, 2011, Joe Gibbs Racing announced The Home Depot will become co-primary sponsor on the #20 Car with Dollar General. Dollar General is set to sponsor 12 races while the other 22 will continue to be sponsored by The Home Depot. The Home Depot has served as the sole primary sponsor of the #20 car since its debut in 1999.
[edit] Nationwide Series
[edit] Car #11 History
What would become the #11 car debuted during the 2005 season as the #19 car at the CarQuest Auto Parts 300. It was driven by Labonte and sponsored by Banquet Foods. Labonte ran seven races that year, with three top-tens. With Labonte moving to Petty Enterprises, JGR development driver Aric Almirola ran the car in seven races in 2006. Tony Stewart also drove the car at select races in 2006, using his NEXTEL Cup crew when he raced. The #19 team was disbanded after the 2006 season. The car returned as the #11 for 2011 and was driven by Brian Scott, who brought sponsorship from his family-owned Shore Lodge. The new team was constantly hampered by bad luck during races. For 2012 Scott will be sponsored by Dollar General
[edit] Car #18 History
The current 18 car came under Gibbs control when he purchased the #44 Shell Oil Pontiac from Labonte, who had been operating the team under his control. The team made its debut under the Gibbs banner at the 1998 NAPA Auto Parts 300 with Stewart driving, he qualified 9th but finished 31st after a crash. At the next week at Rockingham Speedway, Stewart qualified on the pole, led 60 laps and finished 2nd. Stewart ran a total of 22 races that year, with five top-five finishes and winning two pole positions. Labonte ran five races that year in that car in 1998, winning the Diamond Hill Plywood 200. The team switched to #18 with sponsorship from MBNA for 1999, but Labonte ran only one race before he suffered shoulder injuries in a qualifying crash at Darlington. Late in the year, Jason Leffler ran four races in the car that year, his best finish being a 20th at Memphis Motorsports Park. Leffler ran the car full-time in 2000, winning a pole at Texas Motor Speedway, and posting three top-ten finishes. After that season, he left for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Jeff Purvis took his place. Purvis started off strong and was seventh in points but was released after the GNC Live Well 200 because of sponsorship issues. Mike McLaughlin took his place, and finished seventh in points that season. Despite not winning again in 2002, he moved up to fourth place in points. However, Gibbs wanted his son Coy a ride in the car, and forced McLaughlin out. In his rookie season, Gibbs had two top-ten finishes and finished runner-up to David Stremme for Rookie of the Year. Despite new sponsorship from Vigoro and The Home Depot, the team decided to run a part-time schedule in 2004, with Labonte returning for two races and J. J. Yeley running seventeen races, garnering four top-ten finishes. Yeley ran the car full-time in 2005, finishing in the top-ten twelve times and finishing 11th in points. Yeley continued to run full-time in 2006, finishing 5th in the points standings with 3 poles, 9 top 5's, 22 top 10's and 27 top 15's. Yeley announced in Daytona that he would be driving in the #1 Miccosukee Gaming and Resorts Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series. In late November, former Brewco Motorsports development driver Brad Coleman signed a contract to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing. Coleman ran 17 of the 35 NASCAR Nationwide Series races during the 2007 season, sharing the #18 Chevy with Tony Stewart, Aric Almirola, and Kevin Conway. Carino’s Italian Grill sponsored Coleman, while Z-Line Designs sponsored Conway and Goody's/ConAgra Foods sponsored Almirola and Tony Stewart. Almirola put the car on the pole at the season opener at Daytona, while Coleman earned his first career Busch Series pole at Talladega. Coleman returned to Brewco Motorsports and the #18 was piloted by the team of Hamlin and Busch with sponsorship coming from Southern Farm Bureau, Interstate Batteries, and Z-Line Designs. Despite running a partial schedule, Busch won ten races in 2008, eight in the #18, while Hamlin won once at Dover. Busch would finish seventh in points. In 2009, Kyle Busch won the Nationwide Series Championship driving the #18 Z-Line Designs, NOS Toyota. In 2010, Kyle Busch shared with Brad Coleman in the #18 car, with Busch running most of the companion weekends and Coleman running the stand alone races.. For 2011, Busch drove the #18 for a majority of the season, splitting the ride with Michael McDowell, who ran both Iowa races, Lucas Oil Raceway, and the road courses Road America and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with sponsorship from Pizza Ranch. McDowell won the pole at Road America and dominated until late race contact with another car. Drivers Kelly Bires, Drew Herring, and Joey Logano also took turns in the 18. Bires ran at Richmond and Chicago with International Comfort Products Corporation, Herring drove at the second Nashville race with Sport Clips, and Logano drove the 18 at Chicago, Dover, Kansas, and Phoenix.
[edit] Car #20 history
After JGR purchased the team from Gary Bechtel in 2000, the team got sponsorship from Porter-Cable. Despite missing three races, driver Jeff Purvis had eleven top-tens and one pole, finishing 11th in points. The team switched to #20 for 2001, and Mike McLaughlin was named the driver. Without a major sponsor, McLaughlin was able to win the Subway 300 and was sixth in points when Gibbs decided to shut down his team because of sponsorship problems. He moved to the 18, and finished seventh in points that year. Coy Gibbs ran five races in the #20 in 2002, with sponsorship from ConAgra Foods. His best finish was a 14th at Kentucky Speedway. After he moved to the 18, Gibbs was replaced by Mike Bliss and Rockwell Automation came aboard as sponsor. Bliss had fourteen top-tens and finished tenth in points. In 2004, he pulled off a win at Lowe's Motor Speedway and had three poles. In 2005, Denny Hamlin came aboard, and posted eleven top-ten's and finished fifth points, the third-place finisher in rookie points. He ran the full schedule in the #20 in 2006, winning twice and finishing 4th in points. Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola drove the 20 in 2007 with Tony Stewart also piloting the #20 at Atlanta. Hamlin took the car to victory lane four times including Darlington, Milwaukee, Michigan, and Dover with Milwaukee being credited to Almirola for starting the race. The #20 finished 2nd in the owners points behind RCR's #29. The #20 was shared by Hamlin, Busch and Stewart for 9 races before defending NASCAR Camping World East Series champion Joey Logano was named the driver of the 20 for the rest of the season's races except for Loudon (which Stewart won in the #20), Daytona (which Hamlin won in the #20), and Chicago (which Busch won in the #18). All four drivers of the #20 won races driving it in 2008. Through the race at Chicagoland Speedway, JGR has won 14 of the 22 Nationwide races in '08 and its drivers have won 15 races overall (Busch won the Dollar General 300 driving for Braun Racing). In 2010, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Matt DiBenedetto shared the #20 car, with Hamlin winning at Darlington and Logano winning at Kentucky and Kansas. For 2011, Logano returned to the #20 with sponsorship from GameStop and Sport Clips. Logano ran the first 10 races but picked up last minute sponsorship from Harvest Investments to run Nashville. Due to a lack of sponsorship, the 20 was unable to run a full schedule for the owners championship. In the 20, Logano grabbed his first superspeedway win at the July Daytona race with help from Kyle Busch. The 20 was also driven by Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas, Richmond, and Darlington, with Hamlin winning at Richmond. Drew Herring drove the 20 with Sport Clips at both Iowa races, where Herring won the pole for the May race, and Lucas Oil Raceway. Ryan Truex stepped into the 20 late in the season for six races.
[edit] Controversy
Following the August 16, 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Michigan International Speedway, NASCAR used a dynometer to test the horsepower of several cars from all competing manufacturers. While testing the Joe Gibbs Racing cars, officials found that the throttle pedal on the two Joe Gibbs Racing cars had been manipulated using magnets a quarter-inch thick to prevent the accelerator from going 100 percent wide open. Joe Gibbs issued a statement saying "we will take full responsibility and accept any penalties NASCAR levies against us" and "we will also investigate internally how this incident took place and who was involved and make whatever decisions are necessary to ensure that this kind of situation never happens again.autosport.com – Gibbs facing penalties for dyno 'cheat' Subsequently, NASCAR made regulation change specifically to Toyota, which mandated them to run a smaller restrictor plate to cut horsepower by estimated 15 to 20 horsepower (15 kW) from their engines. Toyota went on to win 20 of the 35 races in the season, 19 of them by Joe Gibbs Racing.
[edit] Motocross Team
On January, 5th, 2008 the Muscle Milk/Toyota/JGRMX Supercross / Motocross Team which was founed by Coy Gibbs debut at round one of the 2008 Supercross Series in Aneheim CA. In 2009 JGRMX rider Josh Grant won the opening round of the Supercross Series Championship at Angel Stadium. http://www.mxlarge.com/news/4523-joe-gibbs-racing-team-introduction The team has grown and in 2011 riders include Davi Millsaps and Justin Brayton. Davi Millsaps runs the number 18 the first number run by Joe Gibbs racing in NASCAR. The team also has an amateur support program that just in its first year yielded numerous amateur national titles, including multiple titles for 14 year old NC native and rising star – Cooper Webb.
$34.7 billion 
