By David Scott
The Charlotte Observer
When Kyle Busch won Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he handed team owner Joe Gibbs his fifth NASCAR Cup championship trophy.
And a special and emotional season was complete for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The year began with the death of J.D. Gibbs, team owner Joe Gibbs’ oldest son and the organization’s co-chairman. J.D. Gibbs was 49 and had suffered from a degenerative neurological disease.
A few weeks later, JGR’s Denny Hamlin —who was discovered by J.D. at Hickory Motor Speedway in the early 2000s —won the season-opening Daytona 500, with teammates Busch and Erik Jones finishing second and third, respectively.
Ten months later and a few minutes after Busch claimed his second championship, Joe Gibbs could reflect.
“For me, it started with the Daytona 500,” Gibbs said. “I think anybody that saw that would say there’s no way that could happen by accident. I felt like God was kind of overseeing that. I think J.D. was there. And then it kind of continued the entire year for me. It’s been emotional to think that you could win the number of races we’ve won.”
The season was a team-wide success from start to finish for JGR. In all, JGR won a NASCAR-record 19 races (Martin Truex Jr. won seven, Hamlin six, Busch five and Jones one). Three of the “championship four” were Gibbs drivers (Busch, Hamlin and Truex), and that trio finished 1-2-3 at Homestead (Busch, Truex, Jones).
Gibbs drivers have now won five Cup titles —2000 (Bobby Labonte), ‘02, ‘05 (Tony Stewart), ‘15 and ‘19 (Busch). That trails only drivers from Hendrick Motorsports (12), Petty Enterprises (10), Junior Johnson (six) and Richard Childress Racing (six) on NASCAR’s all-time list.
Truex and Busch both talked recently about Joe Gibbs’ work ethic and how that permeates the entire organization.
“That man is relentless,” Busch said. “He is at the shop, whether it’s 7 or 8 in the morning, every single morning, that man is there, and he works. This is his life. This is what he does.
“Same as me, this is what he does. And I think that’s why we respect each other so much and we get along so well in what we do, is if he’s at home and in North Carolina, he’s at the shop, and if he’s got to go somewhere and get on an airplane and fly somewhere, it’s for his race team or his family. There are certain times where it’s for his family, of course, too, but that’s how a leader is, and everybody follows the leader that you have from the top.”
Gibbs is unique in American sports. A native of Mocksville, he coached Washington to three Super Bowl championships and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He made the successful switch to NASCAR as a team owner and will be inducted into the sport’s hall of fame in January.
He was in a near no-lose situation at Homestead, with three JGR drivers having a chance at the title. But a pit road miscue by Truex’s team (accidentally putting tires on the wrong side of his car) and an overheated engine for Hamlin ended their chances. Busch, however, won with ease.
“I think you never know exactly how things will play out,” Gibbs said. “I know our preparation going in for all three cars was —we went after it with everything we had, the crew chiefs, everybody. It’s so big for each person.
“I think everybody went after this as hard as we could. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Who knew that we were going to have the things that happened during the race. But we were certainly thrilled for Kyle. It’s a huge deal for us.”
Kyle Busch (18) reacts after winning the Homestead-Miami Speedway NASCAR 21st Annual Ford EcoBoost 400 Monster Energy Series on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019 in Homestead, Fla. (Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/TNS)
