NASCAR CUP SERIES: HIGHPOINT.COM 400

July 23, 2023

Joe Gibbs

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, that is Coach Joe Gibbs.

Coach, maybe talk about a milestone victory for Toyota and Denny Hamlin, big day for you and your team.

JOE GIBBS: It sure was. I would just say we love coming to Pocono honestly. Every time we start getting ready for this race, I think our people all feel like they have real confidence.

I think Denny has been fantastic here. In general, we just love coming up here. It was a great crowd today, fan base. We appreciate everybody here.

Yeah, it seems like this Pocono brings out the best in us. So just really appreciate it and appreciate all the support and everything from our team and our guys back home.

I hate it when everybody that works on the cars and everything back home, they don't get to be in the winner's circle with us. It's a huge deal for our sponsors. We have a new sponsor today in Mavis. A huge deal for us. We have FedEx, all the other sponsors that sponsor our car. Interstate Batteries, for sure. Norm is always with us in the winner's circle.

Our sport is different than any other sport. We have to have sponsors. They're more than sponsors, they're partners. It's great when you get a new sponsor coming into the sport. That was the case today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Ty is really coming on. Seems like he's getting better and better all the time. I imagine he's on some kind of timeline.

JOE GIBBS: Well, this is all Ty has ever wanted to do from the time he was two. This is what he's wanted to do. He knows that you got to handle things the right way and race your way up. You can't talk or buy your way up. He's totally fixed on doing this.

We're proud of him. We think he's made good progress. We got a real good team around him, Chris Gayle is just awesome. I think we got a good team there.

I know it's fun being a granddad to watch him. I wish Coy was here. Coy kind of orchestrated his whole racing career from the time he was in go-karts all the way up. Coy was the one that directed things. We miss him terribly.

Q. What does this mean for you to see both your grandson and Denny in the top five?

JOE GIBBS: I think this is so hard to do. It's the best people in the world racing cars. It's extremely hard. That's the reason with we just brought up the point there of Ty. When you step up to Cup, it normally takes a long time to get to a point where you can race with the guys up front and win. It's just hard. So I think because of that, when you get a chance to have a day like we had today, I think I'm really, really proud of our whole team and everybody back home.

We hang a banner tomorrow in our shop. I get a chance to thank all those people. It's a huge deal for all of us, our sponsors. Like I said, FedEx. I think it kind of makes me realize how fortunate I am to be a part of this. I appreciate the people that we have around us as a part of our team.

Q. First race with Mavis on the car. How big a deal is that?

JOE GIBBS: It's a huge deal. I told them that you got to come back every week now. This happens every week. I'm not sure they bought that (smiling).

No, it's great to have a new sponsor like that, somebody that's a real powerful company. To get them on the car, then to have Denny give us a win, it was a great, great day to be truthful. Hopefully that gets them excited, too.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOE GIBBS: It is sweet. Yeah, that was a bitter disappointment for us last year. Hopefully today it's not going to be the case. We get through inspection. We really enjoyed today. Denny drove his rear off. Martin was up there for a bigger part of the day. Christopher came all the way back and did a great job, too. Then we had Ty.

It was a big day for us.

Q. Obviously Larson wasn't happy with Denny's move. Is that more aggression that you've seen out of Denny than you have previously?

JOE GIBBS: I always like to have the drivers speak to that. They're the ones in the car. Denny's in there. So I think sometimes you wind up in those last laps with a lot happening. Certainly it did today.

I'll let Denny kind of address that, everything that happened there.

Q. You haven't announced anything for Denny next year. How close are you on that?

JOE GIBBS: Denny is here for the next 10 years. That's what I'm announcing (smiling).

No, really, we're working on everything in our place. We know Denny's going to be here.

Q. How would you describe Denny at this phase of his career, how he's evolved as a driver? 18 years at this level.

JOE GIBBS: I think Denny is really patient. I see him, and he's a vet. He understands it. I think he understands how to win. He's certainly been a great representative for us.

The other thing I've always admired about Denny, he has been so loyal to us, our family. We had a picture there taken in the winner's circle where J.D. used to come up behind Denny and squeeze him. Denny had me come up there and do that. I just appreciate Denny in every way. Our family, he means a lot to us. We really appreciate him, appreciate our friendship.

Q. How do you feel about the strength of JGR with the Playoffs on the horizon in the Xfinity and Cup Series?

JOE GIBBS: I'm excited right now. Our Xfinity program is really coming along. Our ARCA program, we love that. We're all in on ARCA, Xfinity and Cup obviously.

I think right now in Cup, we got off to kind of a slow start this year, but I think we're starting to gain momentum. Everybody knows this is a critical time right here, next five races, down to the Playoffs.

But I do feel like right now we're kind of making up for our slow start.

Q. Managing a four-car team, that's never easy to keep all four cars consistent. As much as winning races is key, how important is it for you guys to be as a program having all four cars consistent and strong every week?

JOE GIBBS: One of the things I love about NASCAR is the fact that it is so hard, and for us it's four cars having to work together. That's hard to get that done.

At the same time that's the best way to go forward in NASCAR, working with your teammates. So back at the race shop, we're all together. We work together. We get to the racetrack and try and solve problems together. Once the race starts, we've proven that over a period of time everybody's on their own.

But I do think that's one thing I appreciate about NASCAR, it's extremely hard. It's unlike any other sport, you got to get four teams working together. So far our guys have a good chemistry with that. They're veteran guys that understand working with four teams is the way to solve problems.

Q. What are the emotions right now seeing him win his 50th Cup win?

JOE GIBBS: I think all the way back to when Denny first came onboard. I remember that. J.D. found him. He was racing lot models. Came down. Everything from the test to racing a truck, we put him at Darlington in an Xfinity car, everything he got in he just took right off.

J.D. said, I think we need to sign this guy.

I said, I think you're right.

The story is we went through one half of a year with Denny racing Xfinity. We were struggling with our Cup car. We put him in there, and we're going on 18 years. So it's been a great deal for us, great deal for Joe Gibbs Racing to have Denny there for that period of time. The way he's taken care of FedEx and everything, we just really appreciate him and the way he deals with this. He's a real pro.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.