JGR teams hope Martinsville marks turnaround

"We had the longest competition meeting I've ever been a part of this past weekend," Denny Hamlin said Sunday, shortly after breaking the JGR slump with his fifth Martinsville victory. "Joe raised his voice, which doesn't happen very often, told us to get off our tails and go to work, and we all did it, and great result for this race team.
 
"Sometimes you need a leader like that to kind of put things in perspective. Not that people weren't working hard, but it just takes that extra 10 percent out of everyone to get to that next level."
 
Whatever was said, the words took hold. Aside from Hamlin's victory, the three other Joe Gibbs Racing entries enjoyed drastic upturns in the results column. Matt Kenseth led multiple laps and wound up fourth, just one spot ahead of teammate David Ragan, making his fifth start in place of the injured Kyle Busch. Only Edwards, who spun after contact knocked out the valve stem from his right-rear tire in the closing laps, was relegated outside the top 10.
 
The sample size just six races into the season is a small measuring stick, but the JGR camp is hopeful that it's indicative of a turnaround as it heads next to Texas Motor Speedway on April 11.
 
"Whether they are or they aren't, it was a good day today and that's something that we can hang our hat on," said crew chief Jason Ratcliff, who guided Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota to its best finish of the year. "… We've been hanging around the front a little more often now, and I feel like we've been qualifying better, getting off the truck faster on Friday, and that makes a huge difference. At the end of the day on Sunday, I think you can look back and if you start better, you typically finish better in the weekend."
 
At Martinsville, Kenseth's car was the only JGR entry starting among the top 10, but the ability to minimize mistakes over the 500-lap long haul paid dividends. Hamlin was able to rally from an early pit-road penalty to methodically climb back into contention, and his three teammates also made the most of damage control at one of NASCAR's most treacherous courses.
 
Performance deficit or merely bad breaks? Ragan said he believes he knows the difference.
 
"I think we've had this potential all year," Ragan said. "I think you look at Denny, Carl and Matt -- and even the 18 car -- we've had good speed. We just haven't been able to seal the deal. Mistakes on different parties' behalves have prevented us from getting a good finish, but I think this will give everyone some confidence, hopefully get the monkey off our back and go to Texas, and I would think one of the Gibbs cars could be a favorite at Texas."
 
For Hamlin specifically, his early clinch into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field helps relieve some of the pressure for crew chief Dave Rogers and his No. 11 team. With Darian Grubb atop the pit box last year, Hamlin came up just shy of securing a first premier-series championship last season. With his first victory since last May at Talladega Superspeedway, Hamlin also welcomed the return to form that had been missing in recent months.
 
"It's been roughly a year for both of us, and really myself," Hamlin said. "We're just not used to not having success, and especially with the resources that we have. Boss man over here expects a lot from us and we expect to be in Victory Lane and be up front.
 
"You know, even though it doesn't cure things, it makes things better, and what this does for our race team in particular is that we've got some kinks in our team right now, but like Dave says, this allows you -- this buys you months of time to get everything worked out and get all the kinks worked out because we know we can go on a championship run, and knowing that this race track holds the key to that top-four getting into Homestead, I like our chances."

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