Joe Gibbs Racing needs strong finish at Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. -- One year ago, Toyota drivers were flying high and showing their dominance in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
The fleet of drivers – four at Joe Gibbs Racing and one at Furniture Row Racing – scored five wins in the first nine races of 2016, including a sweep of all four races n April.
The early stages of this season have told a far different tale.
Toyota can count just one victory on their 2017 spreadsheet – Furniture Row’s Martin Truex Jr. at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 12 – but this could be the weekend when the manufacturer reasserts itself, and not just because the Toyota name is prominent all over the grounds at Richmond International Raceway.
Toyota tasted victory at Richmond last spring when JGR’s Carl Edwards won his second consecutive race of the season, and all five Toyota drivers tallied top-10 finishes, making the conclusion of the Toyota Owners 400 a festive celebration for the title sponsor.
Given the manufacturers’ early struggles this year, all involved – now a six-car stable that includes two rookies but not reigning winner Edwards, who stepped away from NASCAR after the conclusion of last season -- will be hoping for repeat performance Sunday.
“It’s always a track that we look to get on track relatively speaking,” said JGR’s Denny Hamlin, a three-time Richmond winner from nearby Chesterfield. “It seems like this racetrack, for whatever reason, it's been good to me.”
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No doubt Hamlin needs to get on track. Now in his 12th full-time season at JGR, Hamlin sits just 15th in the standings heading into Sunday’s race (2 p.m. ET, Fox) and has not clocked a single top-five finish in 2017, a stark contrast to last April when Hamlin entered Richmond with three top fives, including a triumph in the Daytona 500.
Hamlin is not alone at JGR. Kyle Busch, the 2015 series champion, ranks 11th in points with no wins and two top fives. Matt Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, has not won either and ranks 20th with two top fives. Rookie Daniel Suarez, who replaced Edwards, is 22nd.
“If you think about it, by this point last year, I think (JGR) had already a few wins and right now we have zero,” said Suarez, who has two top-10 finishes through eight races. “Definitely there is some speed missing as an organization, but maybe we have one more step left as a team. I feel like we (the No. 19 team) are even one more step back than the rest of the guys, and that's normal. I'm new.”
But Hamlin’s assertion that the organization is poised for a breakthrough could be prescient. Kenseth won the pole for Sunday’s race – a feat that seemed to surprise even him – and Hamlin, Busch and Kenseth were all strong in Saturday’s final practice, each placing in the top eight in best consecutive 10-lap averages.
The bright spot for Toyota has been Truex, who has had strong performances all year and once again looks to be one of the top contenders to find victory lane Sunday. Truex posted the second-fastest speed in final practice and clocked the best 10-lap average. FRR teammate, rookie Erik Jones, was the fastest in Saturday’s first practice.
Truex, who ranks third in the standings, says his No. 78 team is just “clicking; we have a lot of confidence.” He can’t point to one significant reason for the disparity between Furniture Row and Gibbs, but believes his team can be a template for the other Toyota drivers to “show them what is possible.”
“They've done so much for us since we moved to Toyota last year to get us going and kind of get us up to speed that it's fun to be there and try to help those guys and show that our team is a big part of being competitive, running well, making sure Toyotas are up front each and every week,” Truex, who will start third, said. “It kind of shows that they made a good decision by bringing us in and making us part of that team."
Follow Horrow on Twitter @EllenJHorrow
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