Hamlin's win gives emotional lift to J.D. Gibbs

What also mattered Sunday was the emotional lift Hamlin created for his beloved boss J.D. Gibbs, who was preparing to begin some highly focused medical treatment for symptoms impacting his brain function.

The Joe Gibbs Racing team revealed last Wednesday that Gibbs has been dealing with this medical issue for the past six months and will be undergoing a more rigorous treatment that will most likely keep him away from the race track more.

“J.D. at our team meeting earlier this week, he got up and basically he said, ‘I know God has a plan and God puts us through things for a reason.'” said Gibbs’ father and the team’s namesake Joe Gibbs.

“I think J.D. gains his strength from the fact that he has a personal relationship with the Lord and I have to tell you that he’s my hero. I kind of watch him and I don’t know if anybody has ever dealt with anything as courageous as J.D. does.”

It helps having a reason to smile and Hamlin’s victory Sunday was the first for the now four-car Joe Gibbs Racing Cup stable since he won at Talladega last May.

Emotional lifts are a really big deal when you’re facing major medical hurdles and as Hamlin showed again, the NASCAR community is really good at providing them.

Unfortunately, there have been plenty of opportunities recently.

NASCAR has already rallied around Gibbs-own injured driver Kyle Busch, who has been out of the driver’s seat since February recovering from a fractured leg and foot suffered in an accident in the XFINITY Series opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Just last week veteran Brian Vickers announced he would take three months off while on blood thinners to treat a reoccurrence of blood clots – his fourth leave of absence since 2010 because of medical reasons.

And only days after the JGR team announced Gibbs’ situation, the hugely popular Sprint Cup Series 2014 Sunoco Rookie of the Year Kyle Larson was transported to the hospital after fainting at an autograph signing.

It has certainly been an especially challenging time away from the track.

Longtime JGR employee Jason Ratcliff, crew chief on Matt Kenseth‘s No. 20 Toyota, noted that everyone missed seeing Gibbs’ familiar big grin in Victory Lane.

“One thing about JGR, it’s a family-owned business and they treat all 500 employees like they’re family,” Ratcliff said. “We miss him this weekend, and prayers to him, and we know he’s going to get well.”

It’s not the first time Gibbs has needed or felt the support from within NASCAR. His son Taylor battled leukemia as a young child and Joe Gibbs pointed out Sunday his grandson is doing better. And he expects a good outcome for his son as well despite having few definitive medical answers as to the condition at this point.

“Basically what the doctors say is that they really don’t know,” Joe Gibbs said, then made a point to address the NASCAR community.

“I have to tell you that as a group, from all the contact that we’ve had, the people praying for us and the people reaching out to us, whether it was through Taylor’s situation or now through J.D.’s situation, it’s been just unbelievable for us as a family.”

And Sunday was perfect example that in NASCAR racing, what goes around comes around.

If not for Gibbs, Hamlin may not have ever had the chance to compete in the Sprint Cup Series, much less win. It was Gibbs who first spotted Hamlin running late models at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway 13 years ago and convinced Joe Gibbs to give the young driver a chance to compete and work his way up in the organization.

It’s something they all said they thought about during the driver’s extra exuberant victory lap at Martinsville on Sunday.

“I thank my lucky stars every day that I was able to get in the car that I was able to get into because so many young guys come into this sport and don’t get an opportunity with a good team, and I was put with a great race team, and things worked out for me in my future, and it’s amazing looking back on it, how everything played out,” Hamlin said Sunday. “These guys gave me my chance, and J.D. was a big key to that.”

Joe Gibbs smiled listening to Hamlin.

“For me it was emotional and thinking about J.D. and all that he means to our team, so it was a big week for us, but a great finish to a story there,” Gibbs said.

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