NASCAR CUP SERIES: AMBETTER 301

July 17, 2022

Joe Gibbs

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the winning car owner, Joe Gibbs, with the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. We're going to go straight to questions for Coach.

Q. First of all, how much pressure were you feeling for Christopher? How much do you think he was feeling for himself coming into this race?

JOE GIBBS: You know, with a young guy like that -- there were so many stories out there today with that team. That was a young pit crew. It was our third generation Jackson was on there. It was only his third race there with those guys, so that was a great story.

Then Christopher, we really in a lot of ways held him back during the year. There's things that happened when he could have won races.

You love to see a young guy like that, he and Morgan, they fight through everything that they fought through, and then to win the race, huge for our sponsors, Rheem, huge deal. So loyal to us. Stanley Black & Decker has been also with Christopher a bunch, and so for all those sponsors and everything, just a huge deal for us. So there's a lot of stories. Seeing a young guy like that win a race today, I think really says a lot about him and his team.

Adam, too. I shouldn't have left Adam out. He really does a great job of guiding things at our race shop and making decisions like that. That car was not very good when we started the race. That's the other thing. That car was kind of middle of the pack and struggling.

I think it says a lot about Adam and the team and everybody just kept fighting, and at the end they got him going in the right direction.

Q. Just talk about the dominance by this organization. Martin led a lot today and I know it must be heartbreaking for him to lose this race. What makes this organization so successful with the Xfinity cars and the Cup car?

JOE GIBBS: Yeah, I think with Martin, I really felt for him. To have a car like that and with everything that worked out the way it did, yeah, I think for us, we've had kind of a really up-and-down year. Everybody kind of knows we've been off some for sure. Road racing has given us fits. So it's hard.

New car, everything that's taken place, you just keep working hard. We've got great people. The Lord has blessed us with great people, and we just keep working hard. So hopefully we're getting a handle on things, and hopefully able to show up.

Q. Martin is fifth in point, got the most stage wins this year but right now on the cut line. How nervous are you?

JOE GIBBS: I'm very nervous about it. I think all of us. I don't think any of us would have dreamed when the year started we would have 15 winners at this point. Yeah, that's why we were pulling so hard for him to get it, and then of course Christopher was in pretty much the same boat. Thank goodness Christopher was able to get it done, but we've got to give Martin everything we can give him because we need that car. We need it in the playoffs, that's for sure.

Q. Kyle sort of alluded to the fact that he's talking to other teams. Are you surprised things have gotten to this point?

JOE GIBBS: Yeah, I am in a way. It's been hard. We're working really hard to try and get things done, and it is hard, though. You've got to put a lot in place to make things work out, and we're working as hard as we can. We're going after it, a number of different directions. So yeah, I'm surprised at this point that we haven't been able to get that finished.

Q. I'm curious with all the pit crew stuff going on and Kyle's contract stuff going on, do you feel like -- is your organization in -- I don't want to say turmoil, but are you concerned that there's too much drama going on there?

JOE GIBBS: I hope "turmoil" is not a good word for it, because you're the media guy, so give me a better word, will you? Maybe "struggle" or something right now. But I think that happens in pro sports. I think that's the reason why we all like it so much. It's hard. It takes a lot up here.

The thing that is probably the hardest is to get four teams going in the right direction. Other sports you only have to get one. It is really hard.

But I think I kind of enjoy that part of it, but it is hard, and hopefully we'll get ourselves going in a little better direction now. This was a big deal for us for sure, and so hopefully we can get a few more wins. We need to get Martin in, too.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations to you and your family. Thanks for joining us.