“GOD DA—-! F—!!!” To call Denny Hamlin’s message at the end of the Shriners Children’s 500 would be an understatement. He was inches away from a win, but Bell’s advantage going down the inside was enough to snatch the lead away. On paper, it was still a good finish. Finishing 1-2 and Bell taking a third consecutive victory. The gravy train can’t stop for Coach Gibbs, or can it?
Despite the positives of the race win, Coach Gibbs is worried about a different problem, one that can arise between the two teammates.
Joe Gibbs was a wreck watching it all unfold.“‘Nervous’ isn’t probably a good word for it. I was ready to upchuck,” Gibbs quipped. “One of the things I always worry about when we get two of our cars up there, because that can make for an intense meeting tomorrow at 2:00. I can tell you that. Hey, they raced it out. It looked like nobody took unfair advantage. Just appreciate that. I think for the last two weeks in a row, we’ve had great finishes to races with people having a chance to show their skill and yet get it done the right way.” he added.
The veteran has no shortage of experience when it comes to teammates dueling. Just a few years ago, at the 2010 NASCAR All-Star Race, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were ready to have a go at each other. After all, both are still known for their aggression on the track. As the race progressed, Hamlin pushed Rowdy up the track and into the wall, leaving his brother Kurt a free shot at the win. In the end, JGR lost the trophy and ended up with a massive fight between their drivers. It sure would have made for an awkward race debrief meeting, as Coach Gibbs put it.
Cut to 2025, and Joe Gibbs might see some silver lining. Despite the fight up front at Phoenix, both drivers kept it clean. After Ty Gibbs spun out, setting up the 2-lap sprint to the end, both Hamlin and Bell kept their noses clean. At one point, despite going neck and neck into the final corner, the drivers picked their lanes and stuck to it, Hamlin on the outside and Bell down the inside. Add to that Hamlin’s comments just a few weeks earlier, and you start to see Gibbs’ concern. Hamlin had explained on his podcast, “I am a competitive person as you may know. There is nobody that I hate seeing win more than my teammate because I know they’re driving the same thing that I’m driving. I know every driver is like, ‘Oh, I’m so happy for my teammate winning.’ I mean, I love Christopher Bell. He’s a great dude, but I don’t want him to beat me.
In the aftermath of the race, both drivers knew they had given quite a scare to their fans. Denny Hamlin lamented his loss while appreciating his team. “I had kind of position on the 20. I knew he was going to ship it in there. He had to use me. He could. Obviously we just kind of ran out of racetrack there. Great finish. Great job by the whole Joe Gibbs team to give us some fast cars.” At the same time, Christopher Bell amplified this emotion in his interview. “It was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were racing really, really hard there coming to the line. JGR ran 1-2, how about that?”
Regardless, it was an incredible finish for JGR overall. Bell was unstoppable at Phoenix. He started up front, led 105 of the 312 laps, and used some slick red tires to take charge late in the game. He nabbed an insane photo-finish win over his teammate, 0.049 seconds close. That’s Bell’s third win in a row, something we haven’t seen since Kyle Larson crushed it back in 2021.
It wasn’t all that bad for Hamlin either. It was his best finish in the season so far. After his sixth place finish in Atlanta, a second-place in Phoenix is certainly progress. While the fan seems far off, some of Hamlin’s best tracks are still ahead of him. The upcoming Bristol race has seen Hamlin get an average finish of 3.3 in four races. The Cook Out 400 at Martinsville also shows similar numbers with an average finish of 5.5.
In this mixed bag for Joe Gibbs, his new driver had a tough time in the race.
Chase Briscoe’s JGR debut was marred by a pileup at Phoenix
Chase Briscoe’s first race with the team at Phoenix Raceway turned chaotic. A seven-car crash during the event overshadowed his debut, adding a rough start to his new chapter after leaving Stewart-Haas Racing. The incident happened late in the race, triggered when Briscoe, driving the #19 Toyota Camry, got caught in a tight pack. Contact with another car sent him spinning, collecting six others, including big names like Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. “It’s not how I wanted to kick things off with JGR,” Briscoe said post-race. “Things just got out of hand quick.”
Briscoe had shown promise earlier, running in the top 10 before the wreck dropped him to a 28th-place finish. The crash wasn’t his fault alone, NASCAR’s tight racing at Phoenix often leads to these pileups. But it stung for a driver aiming to prove himself with a top team. JGR crew chief James Small backed him up: “Chase was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. We’ll regroup.”
The race itself was a thriller, with Christopher Bell edging out Denny Hamlin for the win, giving JGR a 1-2 finish despite the chaos. Briscoe’s debut, though, highlighted the steep learning curve he faces. After a solid 2024 with SHR, where he won the Southern 500, the 30-year-old now carries JGR’s high expectations. “I know what this team can do,” Briscoe said. “I’ve got to adapt fast.”
Fans on social media had mixed takes. Some blamed Phoenix’s tricky layout, while others questioned Briscoe’s fit with JGR. Either way, his first outing with the powerhouse team was a wake-up call. Next up is Las Vegas, Briscoe’s shot to shake off the debut blues and show he belongs.
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