Joe Gibbs Racing teammates clash at New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. — Joe Gibbs Racing teammates clashed Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the fourth race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
The story after Sunday’s race wasn’t about three playoff drivers finishing in the top-12 spots. It was about how JGR’s only non-playoff driver raced his teammates.
Ty Gibbs showed speed in the opening 88 laps of the 301-lap Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire. In fact, he ran eighth after a big four-wide pass on a restart.
However, his speed faded but not enough for Christopher Bell and eventually Denny Hamlin to get by. Bell grew frustrated as Hamlin passed him and set his sights on Gibbs. Gibbs also frustrated Hamlin, who became vocal on the radio.
“Does Ty know we’re going for a championship? What the f-ck?” Hamlin said.
After running him up the track and effectively trying to tell him to get out of the way, Hamlin spun Gibbs in turns one and two on lap 110.
“Are they afraid to talk to him? That’s what I feel like, they’re scared of him,” Hamlin said. afterward
“Game on,” Gibbs said over his radio.
It wasn’t game on for Gibbs, who lost multiple laps due to damage from hitting the wall and other issues. Even after Gibbs’ team worked on his car, it handled so poorly that Gibbs hit the wall in turn two again and pitted. He went to the garage and fell out of the race in 33rd after completing 134 of 301 laps.
Hamlin went on to finish 12th and left the race 28 points above the cutline — but the story wasn’t about that. USA Network cameras captured him in a tense discussion with team owner Joe Gibbs and other team executives on pit road after the race.
“It was super unfortunate he got spun there and the contact came from us,” Hamlin said to USA. “We’ll work through it and all but we’ll see how it goes. It’s unfortunate the contact happened.”
Teammates in NASCAR are a vastly different dynamic than teammates in other sports. JGR has seen conflict before, like in 2010 when Hamlin and Kyle Busch got together in the All-Star Race or in 2022 when Gibbs wrecked Brandon Jones out of a NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 spot on the final lap at Martinsville.
Incidents, like the one in 2022, have garnered Gibbs a reputation for being a young and wily aggressive driver among fans and the garage who had jeers for him in his biggest moments — like after he won the 2022 Xfinity Series title.
“I told him that hey, you used to be a super cool kid and you kind of turned into a little bit of a d—-ebag,” said Noah Gragson, whom Gibbs beat for the title. “He can still grow from it… It takes great people around you to learn, and I think he is capable. He has the potential to learn. He’s a great race car driver.”
As grandfather and team owner, Joe Gibbs reportedly expressed displeasure with hearing boos for Ty and defended him. The death of Ty’s dad, Coy Gibbs, just a day after Ty won the 2022 title, seemed to only bring them closer as he faced the gauntlet of the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023.
While the young gun has shown glimpses of breaking through in the Cup Series, Ty Gibbs is still winless now 117 races into his career. While has made the playoffs once in three seasons, his teammates haven’t missed the playoffs in that time.
Gibbs, however, has shown steady progress and is destined for the playoffs next season. All this season is worth is to maximize what he can and to overcome the frustration of not getting to race for a championship like his teammates are.
“It’s unfortunate but I’m excited to go race next week and looking forward to it,” Gibbs said. “We’ll have a good race next week, looking forward to it.”
Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin finished sixth, 10th and 12th, respectively. Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe are now +28, +24 and +11 points, respectively, to the cutline, heading into Kansas Speedway.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com