Joe Gibbs Racing comes into the 2007 season with its trio of NEXTEL Cup Series drivers inttact and looking to build on a pretty successful 2006.
Although 2005 champion Tony Stewart shocked man by missing the "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup," JGR still had a solid season with Stewart finding victory lane five times and freshman Denny Hamlin winning "Rokkie of the Year" honors in an impressive first season.
"We're pretty confident about where we're at in this stage of the season," Hamlin said during testing at Daytona in January. "This is probably one of the best speedweeks Gibbs had had probably ever as far as where we're at time-wise versus the other guys. So we've tended in the past to close the gap on guys from testing to race weekend, so hopefully if that trend continues, we should be pretty good."
Hamlin of course started last season with a bang at Daytona, winning the Budweiser Shootout as a warm-up to his two wins at Pocono later in the season and ROY honors.
Stewart comes into 2007 with maybe the most momentum of any driver on the series. After missing the "Chase," Stewart was one of the hottest drivers on the circuit winning three times during the post-season.
Stewart has spent his winter racing everything with four wheels including midgets and sports cars and is ready for the new Cup season.
"We've been very, very busy this winter," Stewart said. "I just did stuff that I am supposed to be doing at home. Just because we didn't break something doesn't mean we weren't doing stuff," he said referring to last year's shoulder injury when he flipped during the Chili Bowl midget race.
Yeley has been impressive during this winter's testing sessions and with a year under his belt, feels like he'll be competitive in the NEXTEL Cup Series this year.
"We’re definitely very satisfied with the new cars that the guys worked so hard on at the shop," Yeley said during this week's testing session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "I know that they found some stuff body-wise to help the aerodynamics and downforce. Not that we struggled with intermediate tracks last year, but knowing that the guys worked hard over the winter to give us a better race car is very encouraging. The majority of the tracks we’ll run on are mile-and-a-half banked race tracks, so it just makes you look forward to going to California, Vegas, Atlanta and some of the other intermediate race tracks that come up early in the schedule."
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NASCAR Rumors Gibbs to switch from GM?
Tuesday, Jun 19, 2007 12:56 pm EDT
Rumors continue to run through the garage indicating Toyota has had conversations with Joe Gibbs Racing officials about making the switch from GM.
All GM contracts with Cup teams are up at the end of this year, and Gibbs has been with the manufacturer since the team's inception in 1992.
Source: Detroit News
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Gibbs back in NASCAR, but still finding his place with race teams
JENNA FRYER
The Associated Press
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Coach Joe is back, but he's not calling the shots in NASCAR anymore.
"We're still trying to figure out how big a pay cut he's going to get," J.D. Gibbs said Tuesday night in welcoming his father back to the race team. "It's going to be large. A couple of zeros off of it. But we're excited to have him back."
Gibbs stepped down as coach of the Washington Redskins on Jan. 9, and has quickly settled back into his role as owner of one of NASCAR's most successful race teams. But unlike Washington, where he led his football team into the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, Gibbs isn't in charge down here. That role belongs to his oldest son, J.D., the team president of Joe Gibbs Racing who took over day-to-day control when his father went back to the NFL.
It leaves Gibbs fighting with his son for permission to drive the company Lexus, and figuring out just where he's needed in the family business he started in 1992.
"My role will be — they will roll me into the corner," Gibbs joked during a media reception at team headquarters. "They don't miss me much, the way they have taken off the last four years. I felt like my role has always been to work with the sponsors — because I am not the technical guy — to keep the resources going and to pick the people, because you win with people."
No matter what job they give him, it was clear the team is thrilled to have him back, evidenced by the large "Welcome home Joe" banner that hangs above the entrance to the race shop.
And his top executives couldn't praise him enough, obviously elated to have Gibbs' calming presence back at headquarters.
"His presence is positive. He walks through the shop and the guys are just thrilled to see him," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said. "One day you will see him in the break room with guys he doesn't even know. He just wanders around offering encouragement. He's a motivator. He's just a cool guy, he really is."
Around the race shop, Gibbs is known as the guy who offers encouragement when things seem pretty bleak. Zipadelli remembers losing a chance to score his and Tony Stewart's first career victory 10 years ago when Zipadelli incorrectly gambled on fuel strategy and the car didn't have enough gas to race to the finish.
Dejected and worried how it might affect his job at JGR, the first-year crew chief was put to ease when he arrived back in North Carolina after the race.
"He was the person when I got off the plane to call me and tell me 'Hey, you did a good job.' It was not, 'Don't do that again, you'll lose your job,'" Zipadelli said. "He's not a pat you on the back guy when you do well, but he's there for you when you need encouragement."
Jimmy Makar, the first crew chief hired at JGR when Gibbs formed the team, said the owner has always had a sense for people. It's helped him build this team from a one-car operation to the three-car team that has won three championships since 2000.
"Joe is the greatest people person I have ever been around," Makar said. "He reads people well, he motivates people and he does everything to get the best results out of every person we have here."
After two weeks to reflect on his decision to leave the Redskins, which he praised as "the greatest place to coach," Gibbs said he was certain he made the correct decision in stepping down. He's still an adviser to owner Daniel Snyder, but said he plans to attend a good deal of races on NASCAR's 36-event schedule.
"The whole time I was in football, we knew football was going to be for a limited amount of time," Gibbs said. "And we knew, hopefully and Lord willing, racing was going to be forever. We want this to be something we continue into the future."
Stewart thinks he knows the best way to ensure Gibbs' return won't interfere with the success JGR has had during his absence.
"We're going to start changing all the codes on all the doors that go downstairs at the shop, so he can't do much," Stewart joked. "And we'll definitely lock him out of the accounting office."
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Gibbs returns to his race team with plenty of vigor
Just weeks after retiring as coach of the Redskins, the JGR patriarch is back in his North Carolina shop.
By Dustin Long
The Roanoke Times
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- The Lexus arrived at Joe Gibbs Racing a few weeks back, a gift for the team's namesake from Toyota.
Gibbs, though, was in Washington coaching the Redskins. So, oldest son J.D., the race team's president, decided to "borrow" the luxury vehicle.
Shortly after Joe Gibbs retired from coaching this month and returned to the family's NASCAR team, he learned of the gift. One problem, though.
"J.D. won't give it to me," Gibbs said, laughing.
Retrieving his ride could be one of Joe Gibbs' easier challenges in coming back to his race team.
The 67-year-old's role will be similar to what he did before he left to coach the Redskins a second time in 2004. He'll be the closer on sponsor deals, his common man persona connecting with CEOs. He'll motivate and lift spirits, patting backs and telling uplifting stories. He'll steer the team, knowing when to let others make key decisions and when to aid them.
This is not retirement, he stressed.
"The pressure here is to pay the bills, keep the resources [available] and keep a healthy team winning races," he said.
That is a daunting task with Hendrick Motorsports' recent domination.
Car owner Rick Hendrick has won the past two series titles and his teams combined to win half of the 36 races last season.
Even as he faces such a foe, Gibbs admits he'll have fun and even return to the golf course more often.
Gibbs mimicked a Jay Leno monologue during a NASCAR media tour spot at his shop Tuesday.
He quipped about his age, pled innocent if something goes wrong this season and offered light-hearted condolences to crew chief Greg Zipadelli, who begins his 10th season working with Tony Stewart.
Gibbs' return is part of a major overhaul at the shop. The team switched from Chevrolet to Toyota. Kyle Busch replaced J.J. Yeley, joining Stewart and Denny Hamlin.
Gibbs admits he would have liked to have delayed his return, but a first-round exit in the NFC playoffs brought him back to North Carolina sooner.
"You'd like to finish things in Washington with a championship, but I think we've got things going in the right direction there," he said.
"We knew that football was going to be for a limited amount of time. Lord willing, racing is going to be forever for our family."
A team that began with less than 20 employees in 1991 now has more than 400.
His team thrives as Daytona 500-winning teams Melling Racing and Morgan-McClure Motorsports have closed shop, and three-time 500 winning car owner Robert Yates retired.
Gibbs does not plan to walk away soon.
"I think I'll be here on an ongoing basis," he said. "I'm not going to butt in and try to change things."
Even while coaching the Redskins, Gibbs found time to play a Zig Ziglar role.
Hamlin, who grew up a Redskins fan and lives next door to Gibbs, often got phone calls from his boss during the season.
"I would really get my phone calls from Joe on either a really good week or kind of a really bad week," Hamlin said.
"I think that was kind of his coach role coming out, either keep you pumped up about having such a good week. Or when he knows when you're down, he tries to get you back up.
"I think that's the important role he plays."
Gibbs' most vital role came last year at Chicago, when he diverted his vacation plans to sit down with Hamlin and Stewart, who were feuding after they crashed the week before at Daytona.
"It's good to have the father figure around," said Mark Cronquist, who heads the team's engine department. "Just who he is can bring some people back down and people don't get cocky."
Said J.D. Gibbs: "When he speaks, people are going to listen."
Maybe all but J.D., who still has the Lexus. For how long is the question.
"I won't have it for very long," J.D. Gibbs said.
His dad often finds a way of getting people to do what he wants.
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There's a new look to the Joe Gibbs Racing operation in 2008.
And it's not just Tony Stewart's flowing locks.
JGR moves from Chevrolet to Toyota this season and brings in Kyle Busch to team with Stewart and Denny Hamlin in the three-car stable.
The move to Toyota makes JGR the lead team in the manufacturer's second season on NASCAR's top division and team president J.D. Gibbs is optimistic about the opportunity.
"I'm excited about the move to Toyota and I really feel like we're going to be in good shape," Gibbs said. "We've found out that with Toyota it's very much a team thing where we try and help out other Toyota teams as well as them being able to help us."
Stewart believes the change won't be that big a deal, especially with the COT in play for the entire season.
"We had a good test at Daytona, but one of the things I'm really looking forward to is getting to test at like four of the first 10 tracks to start the year off," said Stewart, who returns to pilot the No. 20 Home Depot entry. "Once we get through those tests is when we will really have a pretty good gauge on where we are with this new car."
"The difference between the new car and the old one really isn't that much different to me. A race car is a race car. I'm still sitting in the same seat I sat in last year, so it hasn't been all that big a deal to me to be honest."
Third-year driver Hamlin is hoping to continue his climb up the Sprint Cup ladder and once again compete for a championship in 2008.
"The first goal is to win a race and Daytona is the first race, so it would mean a lot to be the first team and driver to win the first race for Toyota," said Hamlin, who will again be hehind-the-wheel of the No. 11 FedEx ride. "That's what we're shooting for as well as just getting our consistency together with this new car."
"As far as what I think about the change from Chevrolet to Toyota, it really hasn't been all that big a deal to me for much as it has been a lot of hard work over the off-season to all the guys here at the shop. Those are the guys that have been putting in a lot of hours getting all these new cars ready and up to speed."
Busch comes over from Hendrick Motorsports and replaces J.J. Yeley in the team's No. 18 machine, which will sport primary sponsorship from M&M's and associate support from long-time JGR partner Interstate Batteries.
After testing in Daytona, Las Vegas and California, Busch is impressed with the team and the Toyota and believes he is poised for a successful inaugural campaign with JGR.
"I really think we're going to come out of the box strong," Busch said. "To me, it's all about winning races and from what I've seen with this team so far is that's what they want to do as well. As long as I have the chance to win races and battle for the championship I'll be happy because to me that's what it's all about."
There is one more change at JGR this season and that's the return of Joe Gibbs, who retired again as head coach of the Washington Redskins and will return to a more active role with the team.
"I just want to say that if something goes wrong this year in Washington then it wasn't my fault," Gibbs said. "It will be my fault if something goes wrong here with my race team. In all honesty, it was a thrill to be able to go back to Washington to coach the Redskins again, but now I'm glad to be back at home in racing. I'm just looking forward to getting back to racing and getting the season started."
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Gibbs back in NASCAR, but still finding his place with race teams
Team Preview: Joe Gibbs Racing
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