Building blocks of hope for JGR after 600 upturn

RELATED: Take 5: Observations from 600 | Race Rewind Joe Gibbs Racing's four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams were already showing signs of improvement before this year's All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But Kyle Busch's victory in the non-points event undoubtedly helped lay the groundwork for what was to become, at this point, the organization's best combined result of the season a week later. "That was certainly something we could build off of," Jason Ratcliff, crew chief for the No. 20 JGR Toyota of Matt Kenseth, said following Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600. "Everybody came back, worked hard (during Saturday's two practice sessions), put some good notes together and everybody ran well (in the 600)." Busch nearly pulled off the dynamic double, winning the All-Star Race and the 600 until a fuel mileage gamble by Austin Dillon got in the way. Dillon scored his first career victory in the series; Busch was runner-up for the 38th time. Kenseth managed to motor home with a fourth-place finish, teammate Denny Hamlin was fifth and Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Daniel Suarez was 11th. That's an average finish of 5.5 for the group, and the first time this year it's broken the double-digit barrier. "I hope we can keep that up," Ratcliff said. "It's definitely a good momentum builder. Hopefully we can take that into Dover, on to Pocono and through the rest of the summer." The series heads to Dover International Speedway this weekend for Sunday's AAA 400 Drive for Autism (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). All four JGR drivers have wins in one NASCAR series or another at the 1-mile concrete oval, including five Monster Energy Cup wins between Kenseth (3) and Busch (2). Kenseth is the defending race winner. This year's fuss, of course, can be traced back to last year's success. Armed with a bit more of a veteran lineup, JGR drivers won seven of 12 races to start the '16 season and all four qualified for the 10-race Playoffs with Busch and Carl Edwards advancing to the Championship Round. Suarez came aboard with an XFINITY Series title but no premier series experience when Edwards announced in January of '17 that he was stepping away from racing. While it's been a bit of a transition for Suarez, the 25-year-old has three top-10 results and continues to show improvement. For JGR as a whole to be winless at this point on the heels of last year's results has been one of the season's most unexpected developments. Adam Stevens, crew chief for Busch, said it's too soon to call the organization's recent results a trend, but says he likes what he saw coming out of the two-week Charlotte stop. "I think the 18 has had pretty good speed most every weekend," Stevens said of his particular group. "I feel like we could have had a couple of wins but we don't. But we had good speed last week (in the All-Star Race) and ran well; had good speed as a company this week. I think if we can duplicate that at Dover, maybe Pocono, then I would say definitely for sure." Having multiple teammates is beneficial, but much more so when all are running well. "It just helps your notes so much," Stevens explained. "If you are all running mid-pack … you don't know if you're learning anything because you don't have the results to show for it. The proof is always in the pudding. "It's nice to go out there and make some changes, work on your car and see that bear some fruit. You can always think that you're making it better but if you don't have the results to show for it, you're just guessing." The runner-up effort was Busch's third consecutive top-five finish. His teammates are still searching for that sort of consistency. "We've been a bit scattered," Kenseth noted. "Our speed is better and we still have some work to do especially with my car to get it driving better. I still can't run with the 78 (Martin Truex Jr.) and the 18 (Kyle Busch); if they're out in front of me, they're still better than us. We still have some work to do, but we do have more speed and that's encouraging." Truex now leads the points and his Furniture Row Racing outfit gets its chassis from JGR, with whom it has a technical alliance. Truex has a pair of victories and is considered the front-runner among title hopefuls after the first dozen races. JGR, however, appears to be closing the gap. "It's slow and steady," Ratcliff said. "You make progress … what do they call it, the compound effect? You start seeing it over time and I think that's what it is."