NASCAR: Five Lessons Learned From the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas

Joe Gibbs Racing Has Lost a Step

We are heading to the sixth race of the 2016 Chase at Talladega next weekend and not a single Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won their way into the next round.

At this point it’s time to start looking at this once dominant organization and question if they’ve lost what made them so good in the regular season.

Heading into Kansas on Sunday, it looked like JGR might reclaim their dominant title as three of four drivers were starting the race from the top five spots. Even after the race started Matt Kenseth looked like he had the best car on the track and was easily able to hold back the rest of the field.

By the halfway point of Kansas on Sunday though, Kenseth had fallen backward and was never able to get out in front again.

When Kansas was over three of the four JGR drivers were in the Top 10, with only Denny Hamlin finishing in the Top 15.

This was a solid finish overall for an organization, but for JGR it should start raising some concern. they seem to be competitive at each race in the Chase, but they can’t seem to find the speed to get out in front and stay there.

Something that they had no problem doing during the regular season.

As the Chase gets ready to move to Talladega, one of the four JGR drivers is sitting on the other end of the Chase cutoff line. With the way they’ve failed to stay out in front and win races, JGR drivers could start to fall out of the Chase heading into the next round.

Making it this far into the Chase and not winning a race shouldn’t be a major concern just yet for JGR, but after the fantastic regular season they had, it looks like this organization has lost their dominance.