Coach Joe Gibbs, the legendary team owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, says that his race team will not step in between Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs, who will need to talk out their differences following an on-track encounter on Lap 110 of Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which resulted in the driver of the No. 54 Toyota crashing into the outside wall in Turn 2.
Denny Hamlin Crashes Joe Gibbs Racing Teammate Ty Gibbs on Lap 110
Gibbs says that Joe Gibbs Racing has always allowed its drivers to settle disagreements, such as the one that transpired on Sunday, among themselves. And that is what the team will do this time around as well.
Joe Gibbs talked with Denny Hamlin after the race. He says he will leave it up to the drivers to handle their issues. pic.twitter.com/y1Kz4SlIzv
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 21, 2025
“It’s always the drivers [who] have to handle that,” Gibbs explained. “They’re the ones that got the wheel. And so, I think, that’s always the case. So, that’s what we’ll do.”
Gibbs continued, “I think those guys are all the ones driving the cars. And so, those guys will get together on their own and figure it out.”
Joe Gibbs Racing came into Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on a three-race winning streak. The organization exited Sunday’s race, the opening race of the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, without a single top-five finish, and two of their drivers were upset with each other after a heated exchange on the track.
Pending how the meeting between Hamlin and Gibbs goes, the team faces an unnecessary distraction as the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs roll on, and you wonder if there will be infighting between Gibbs and Hamlin in the coming weeks.
Hamlin, who initiated the contact which sent Gibbs crashing on Lap 110, explained after the race that there was a lot more to what led up to that incident than the contact that sent Gibbs into the outside wall.
“That was like the fourth or fifth time we made contact, but eventually he ended up getting spun,” Hamlin stated.
Hamlin, the 12th-place finisher in Sunday’s race, admits that he made a mistake, and that’s what everyone is focused on, but he feels Gibbs was being overly aggressive and difficult to race with at that point in the event.
“Well, I made a mistake into Turn 1,” Hamlin said. “So, I would have made that mistake with anybody in that situation.”
Hamlin continued, “I was trying to get by him. That was a task in itself.”
Chris Gabehart, who formerly served as Hamlin’s crew chief and is the current Joe Gibbs Racing competition director, agreed with Hamlin as he felt the incident was likely the end result of Hamlin, a Playoff contender, not getting the respect he expected from his teammate, who is not part of the Playoffs.
“Probably was looking for more of a break than he got, that’s what I would guess,” Gabehart explained. “That’s what I saw. The hard part is, you know, the 54 is trying to win races, and make a name for himself as well, and you know, so everybody needs more space than they have. That sounds like racing to me.”
Gabehart says the team will certainly refresh its four drivers about what type of racing is expected between those not in the Playoffs against those fighting for a championship, but he cautioned that the team has a fine line to walk, as they don’t want to neuter the competition level of its teams that miss the Playoffs or are knocked out of the Playoffs.
“I mean, this is the type of conversation that, when you run well, you’re fortunate enough to have to have every so often, and we’ll have to have that conversation again,” Gabehart said. “I think there’s a reasonable etiquette to follow, where everybody can get what they need out of it. But, you know, at the same time, you can’t create an atmosphere where everybody just has to roll over and play nice all the time, either, or you won’t hang as many banners as Joe Gibbs Racing has hung over the years.”
Hamlin said he’ll leave the conversation about the etiquette of how non-Playoff JGR cars race Playoff-contending JGR cars to the leadership of the team, including Gabehart and Coach Gibbs.
“Yeah, I’ll let leadership kind of quarterback it however they’d like to, but obviously, us, the 20, the 19 are all trying to win a championship for their family. So, it’s crazy unfortunate why we’re racing the way we are,” Hamlin said.
Will cooler heads prevail between the two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates? We’ll see how things go next weekend at Kansas Speedway.
