When Joe Gibbs Racing signed Kyle Busch to its already volatile lineup of drivers, even Tony Stewart questioned how the personalities would mesh.
“My first reaction was, this is going to be a train wreck with this group of guys,” said Stewart, a 10-year veteran of JGR.
When team president J.D. Gibbs called him to tell him the organization was leaving the comfortable Chevrolet camp to be the anchor at fledgling Toyota, Stewart was again skeptical.
“I thought he was joking at first,” he explained. “It just came out of left field.”
But just like signing Busch, the switch to Toyota made sense to an ownership group that carefully considers the affects every move has on the long-term viability of the family business. Although it’s very early into this season of change for JGR, two of the biggest moves in company history appear to have hit the mark [...]
Of course, it’s still very early and far too premature to say 2008 will be JGR’s year. Toyota has shown much improvement through two races and right now, all three Gibbs drivers are getting along just fine.Busch and Stewart, who famously feuded a few years ago following on-track aggression at Daytona, are long past it. And Busch scored major points two weeks ago when he stopped by Stewart’s motor home to deliver a gift he was certain the two-time champion would love: A DVD of Stewart’s favorite movie, “Smokey and The Bandit.”
Hamlin and Stewart, who feuded last summer following an on-track accident at Daytona, proved they can work together when they teamed up to hold off Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon in the Daytona qualifying race two weeks ago.
But the three strong personalities could butt heads at any time, something JGR is well aware of and ready to deal with.
“Ever since we’ve been in this sport, the guys we’ve been with have done well and been gifted, but pretty volatile,” J.D. Gibbs said. “Look, I tried to race cars. I stunk. Part of it was, I don’t think I was crazy enough. These guys have a passion for what they do, and they’re really gifted.
“When things don’t go well, they get really bummed out. Things go well? They’re going to feel great. Our goal is to give them the equipment they need, and the people they need around them to be able to consistently go out and have a shot at winning races. If they have that shot, they’ll be fine.” Full Story
2 Comments
the combination of personalities at JGR is intrguing. It is like those wrestlers who are so full of testosterone. Put ‘em in a cage and lock the gate and see who is still standing when the time is up.
My hat is off to J.D. and Joe Gibbs for the stones they must have to put these 3 intense personalities in the same house. And then say, OBTW, ‘we are switching to Toyota’.
My feeling is that before the season returns to Daytona for the 400, Someone at JGR will not be making nice.
lol … yeah, me too … just wondering who’ll be the first to blow — somehow I’m thinkin’ Smoke, though Hamlin has been too quiet lately. I think there’s a lot of turmoil going on inside of that young man right now, and if things don’t start turning around for him — he could be the first one to pop a gasket. Question is — which one’ll piss him off first? grin
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