Five Things The 2016 NASCAR Season Taught All Of Us

No. 4 – JGR Is Still The Team To Beat

Coming into the season there is always the question of which team is going to perform the best. Coming out of 2016 many believed that it would be Joe Gibbs Racing and if you were one of the many, you were 100 percent correct.

If you count their alliance with the No. 78 machine (which you should) JGR won 16 out of 36 races (44 percent). All four JGR cars plus the pseudo-teammate in the No. 78 machine went to the NASCAR Chase. Once in the Chase all four JGR cars advanced to the Round of Eight. Half of the final-four was made up of JGR cars and if not for a late-race wreck, Carl Edwards most likely would have won the championship.

Heading into 2017 there is no reason to believe that the JGR dominance is going to stop. Their alliance will double with the addition of Erik Jones as a teammate to Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 machine. Hamlin and JGR are talking contract extension and the rest of the drivers will be back as well. They might not be the youngest team in NASCAR but they are certainly the most talented right now.