Joe Gibbs Racing

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Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, in 1992. JGR has won five Cup Series championships.

For the team's first 16 seasons, Joe Gibbs Racing ran cars from General Motors, winning three championships: two in Pontiac Grand Prixs and one in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The team switched to Toyota beginning in the 2008 season, and in 2015 brought Toyota their first Premier series championship with Kyle Busch's victory.^[1]

The team fields four full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series: the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Denny Hamlin, the No. 19 Camry for Martin Truex Jr., the No. 20 Camry for Christopher Bell, and the No. 54 Camry for Ty Gibbs. In the Xfinity Series, the team fields three full-time entries: the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra for Sheldon Creed, the No. 19 & No. 20 Supra for several drivers, and the No. 81 Supra for Chandler Smith.

The team has a

In 2021, JGR formed a technical alliance with 23XI Racing.^[4] In 2023, JGR sold minority stakes to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and Arctos Partners.^[5]

History

Gibbs founded the team in 1991 after exploring opportunities with

After winning three Cup championships and more than 70 NASCAR races in Chevrolet and Pontiac equipment, team officials announced in September 2007 that they would switch to Toyota (who had just entered the Cup series that year) after their contract with General Motors ended at the end of the season. Joe Gibbs said Toyota offered the team resources and options they "were not going to be able to afford to do" if they remained at GM. It was also reported that JGR executives felt they were treated by GM as less important than other GM teams such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing.^[11]

In 2012, JGR shuttered its in-house

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Car No. 11 history

Brian Scott (2011–2012)

The No. 11 team began racing in 2011. JGR signed 22-year-old

In 2013, Scott was replaced by veteran

Leffler ran the car full-time in 2000, winning a pole at Texas Motor Speedway, and posting three top-ten finishes. After that season, he left for the Cup Series with Chip Ganassi Racing, and Jeff Purvis took his place.

Jeff Purvis and Mike McLaughlin (2001)

Purvis started strong and was seventh in points but was released after the

Mike McLaughlin (2002)

McLaughlin returned for 2002, and despite going winless in 2002, he moved up to fourth place in points. However, owner Joe Gibbs wanted his son Coy in a full-time ride, leaving McLaughlin without a ride.

Coy Gibbs (2003)

In his rookie season, The now late Coy Gibbs drove the No. 18 full time in 2003. Gibbs had two Top 10 finishes and finished runner-up to David Stremme for Rookie of the Year.

Part-time (2004)

The team scaled back to a part-time schedule for 2004. In November 2003, JGR signed highly touted

Yeley ran the car full-time in 2005, finishing in the top-ten twelve times and finishing 11th in points. Yeley continued to run full-time in 2006, finishing 5th in the points standings with three poles, nine Top 5s, 22 Top 10s, and 27 Top 15s. Yeley announced in Daytona that he would be driving in the No. 1 Miccosukee Gaming and Resorts-sponsored Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series.

Multiple drivers (2007)

In January 2007, former

Part-time (2008)

For 2008, the No. 18 was piloted by the team of

In 2009, Kyle Busch went full time in the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 18 Z-Line Designs / NOS Toyota. Busch won 9 races and won the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Title.

Multiple drivers (2010–2013)

In 2010, Kyle Busch ran most of the races that were paired with

On August 19, 2014, JGR announced that

The team inherited the No. 54's points and equipment in 2016, fielding multiple drivers,

In 2019, Busch returned for seven races with Hamlin running the Darlington race. Jeffrey Earnhardt was signed to nine races while the rest of the schedule was filled out by development drivers Harrison Burton and Riley Herbst. On August 7, 2019, Earnhardt announced that he parted ways with sponsor and XCI affiliate iK9, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing.^[40] Jack Hawksworth would drive the car at Mid-Ohio.^[41]

Riley Herbst (2020)

For 2020, Riley Herbst will be driving this car full-time. Dave Rogers will serve as crew chief. He qualified for the playoffs but was eliminated following the first round and ultimately finished 12th in the standings.^[42]

Daniel Hemric (2021)

On November 12, 2020, it was confirmed that Daniel Hemric would replace Riley Herbst for the 2021 season. On September 25, 2021, it was confirmed that Hemric would not be returning to the team after the 2021 season, moving to Kaulig Racing's No. 11 in 2022 as the replacement for Justin Haley's Xfinity seat. Despite being winless during the regular season, Hemric used his consistency to advance to the Championship 4 at Phoenix where he finally won his first career Xfinity race as well as the Championship.

Multiple drivers (2022)

In 2022, JGR downsized to three teams including the No. 18, No. 19, and No. 54. Drivers such as Drew Dollar, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Truex, John Hunter Nemechek, and Sammy Smith drove the No. 18. The team would go winless in 2022.

Sammy Smith (2023)

On December 6, 2022, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Sammy Smith would drive the No. 18 full-time in 2023 with sponsorship from Pilot Flying J. During the season, Smith scored his first win at Phoenix; at age 18, he became the youngest Xfinity Series winner.^[43]

Sheldon Creed (2024)

On December 13, 2023, it was announced that Sheldon Creed will run the No. 18 full-time for 2024.^[44]

Car No. 18 results

Car No. 19 history

Part-time (2004–2006)

The No. 19 team was to make its debut at the 2004 Michigan race driven by

Daniel Suárez (2016)

The No. 19 car was returned for 2016 with Daniel Suárez and sponsor Arris moving from the No. 18 team, maintaining the same sponsor-number combination used by Carl Edwards in the Cup Series.^[34] Suárez got his first win at Michigan after a last lap pass to Kyle Busch.^[53] Suárez scored three victories and won the 2016 championship, becoming the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR National championship.^[54]

Matt Tifft (2017)

It was announced that in 2017, Matt Tifft would drive full-time in the No. 19, with rookie crew chief Matt Beckham on the box.^[55] Tifft struggled to repeat the success of Suárez failing to win any races and finishing 7th in points.

Brandon Jones (2018–2022)

On November 15, 2017, JGR announced that Brandon Jones would replace Tifft in the No. 19 in 2018. Tifft would move to Richard Childress Racing in a driver swap. Chris Gabehart was announced as his crew chief, moving from the No. 20 Xfinity team and replacing Matt Beckham. From 2018 to 2022, Jones score five wins and made the top-10 in the playoffs. On September 14, 2022, Jones announced he would leave JGR at the end of the 2022 season and move to the JR Motorsports No. 9 in 2023.^[56]

Multiple drivers (2023–present)

On December 8, 2022, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that the No. 19 would run full time with a number of drivers, including Ryan Truex and Joe Graf Jr.. Truex scored his first career win at Dover.^[57] Ty Gibbs took the No. 19 to victory lane at Indianapolis.^[58] Denny Hamlin won his sole Xfinity race of 2023 at Darlington.^[59]

For the 2024 season, the No. 19 was shared between Ryan Truex, Aric Almirola, Ty Gibbs, Taylor Gray, Joe Graf Jr., and William Sawalich.

Car No. 19 results

Car No. 20 history

Early years (2000–2002)

After JGR purchased the team from Gary Bechtel in 2000, the team received sponsorship from

In 2005, Denny Hamlin came aboard and posted eleven Top 10s and finished fifth points, the third-place finisher in rookie points. He ran the full schedule in the No. 20 in 2006, winning two races and finishing fourth in points.

Hamlin and developmental driver

In 2008, the No. 20 was shared by Hamlin,

The No. 20 team returned in 2012 to run most of the season. Its primary driver lineup consisted of Logano, Hamlin, Truex, and JGR development driver

Brian Vickers (2013)

Starting in the 2013 season, 2003

Multiple drivers (2014)

The No. 20 team continued to run full-time in 2014. Matt Kenseth drove the No. 20 in a total of 18 races, with

Erik Jones drove the car full-time in 2016, with Gamestop, Reser's, Hisense, Interstate Batteries and Dewalt as the sponsors.^[88] Jones won 4 times but finished 4th in points after getting trapped behind the slow car of Cole Whitt on the last restart of the final race at Homestead.

In 2017, the No. 20 was driven by a variety of different drivers. Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Kyle Benjamin, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, James Davison and Ryan Preece are among them. Jones drove the car for 18 races starting at Daytona, sweeping the Texas races as well as winning the Bristol spring race. Hamlin drove the car for three races and won at Michigan. Suárez drove the No. 20 for two races at Las Vegas and the Bristol fall race, finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively. Benjamin drove the car for two races at the spring Richmond race and the first Pocono race, winning the pole in the latter. Bell drove the No. 20 for three races starting at the June Iowa race, where Bell won stage one, led the most laps, but finished 16th after being collected in a crash between the lapped cars of Brennan Poole and Ryan Reed while leading. Ryan Preece drove the car at Loudon, the July Iowa race, and the September Kentucky race. Preece finished 2nd to his teammate Kyle Busch at Loudon. In his next race at Iowa, Preece led the most laps and won the race, then finished 4th at Kentucky. James Davison drove the No. 20 at Mid Ohio and Road America, leading the most laps at Road America before getting collected in a wreck.

Christopher Bell (2017–2019)

For 2018, Christopher Bell drove the No. 20 full-time, competing for Rookie of the Year honors. Jason Ratcliff was his crew chief, moving from the No. 20 cup series team. Bell won seven races in 2018, breaking the record for a rookie in the series previously held by Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch. He made it to the Championship 4 but had a tire go down at Homestead and finished 13th in the race and 4th among the championship contenders. He returned for the full 2019 season.

Harrison Burton (2020–2021)

In 2020 and 2021, Harrison Burton drove for Joe Gibbs Racing full-time in their No. 20 Toyota, replacing Christopher Bell, who moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series while also competing for Rookie of the Year honors. Ben Beshore served as crew chief, moving from the No. 18 Xfinity Series team. During the 2020 season, Burton won his first four races at Fontana, Homestead, Texas, and Martinsville and finished eighth in the final standings. On July 15, 2021, it was announced that Burton would leave JGR to drive the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 in the Cup Series for Wood Brothers in 2022. Despite not winning a race throughout 2021, Burton once again made the playoffs with his consistency and finished 8th in the final standings. Following the end of the 2021 season, JGR shut down the No. 20 team and downsized its Xfinity program to three teams: The Nos. 18, 19, and 54.

John Hunter Nemechek (2023)

On December 8, 2022, it was announced that