NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing’s ‘perfect record’ through six races

For each of the first six races on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Joe Gibbs Racing have had one of their Toyotas sent to the rear of the field.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones was initially slated to start Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway in 13th place after finishing Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 race at the track in eighth.

However, before the race, it was announced that the #20 team made unapproved adjustments to Jones’s Toyota, which forced him to start the rain-shortened 208-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina from the rear of the field.

We are now six races into the 2020 season, and there has yet to be a race that did not include a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota starting from the rear for one reason or another.

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For the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Denny Hamlin’s #11 Toyota failed pre-race inspection and was forced to start from the rear. He was able to overcome that penalty and win the Daytona 500 for the second year in a row and the third time in five years.

Then at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, qualifying was rained out, and Kyle Busch was set to start on the pole because of it. But his #18 Toyota failed pre-race inspection, as did Hamlin’s #11 Toyota, and they were both sent to the back of the pack.

Then at Auto Club Speedway, Martin Truex Jr.’s #19 Toyota failed pre-qualifying inspection three times, and he wasn’t even allowed to make a qualifying attempt for that reason. He was forced to start at the back after his car passed inspection on the fourth try.

At Phoenix Raceway, it was the #19 Toyota again being sent to the rear, this time for an engine change.

Then following a 70-day hiatus, NASCAR returned to action amid the coronavirus pandemic for the first of two races at Darlington Raceway, and it was Busch’s #18 Toyota that was sent to the rear after failing pre-race inspection twice.

The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is scheduled to take place this Sunday, May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Will Joe Gibbs Racing’s “perfect record” continue through the seventh race of the season? Qualifying is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET while the race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET.