Editor’s note: This story is part of our Fit Row series that focuses on the health and fitness aspects of racing and its superstar drivers. Presented by Lilly Diabetes, the exclusive diabetes health partner of NASCAR, the series will feature 10 themed stories.
Every Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team looks for any type of edge on the competition — both on and off the race track.
At Joe Gibbs Racing, extra attention on the health and fitness of members in their organization is just one reason why the four-car Toyota brigade has achieved so much success.
JGR has gone all-in when it comes to focusing on human performance, and that process accelerated with the addition of its new, state-of-the-art sports medicine room, which opened in January.
Before walking into the medicine room, you’re welcomed into the approximately 4,000-square foot training facility through the organization’s impressive gym, housing a wide range of fitness machines utilized by JGR’s fleet of drivers and crew members.
A quick turn to the left and you walk right into the spacious medicine room that overlooks the gym, holding multiple massage tables and chairs, a space for stretching activities, various equipment to service injuries and hot and cool tubs for recovery purposes.
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The room even holds a ballet bar with a mirror, a popular tool with the guys while working on various stretching techniques.
“When we renovated, we looked toward a bigger PT (personal training) area,” said Michael Lepp, JGR’s senior athletic director. “We wanted to have it ready for the season. A lot of the things we were doing were in closer quarters. This is all still relatively new to the sport.”
It’s a space they had to build from the ground up — literally.
“There was no floor here,” Lepp said. “We didn’t know what we could do because this was actually the drop-off to the engine room. So, we had to build a floor.”
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The renovation of JGR’s training facilities began roughly four years ago when the team brought on full-time doctor and physical therapy specialist Jena Gatses.
Gatses had a vision for an upgraded space that would give JGR the opportunity to take personal training to the next level — all conveniently located under one roof. After a collective team effort, she was able to make that vision an incredible reality.
“I gave (Lepp) the base of everything and what we needed it (the medicine room) for,” Gatses said. “He trusted me because the guys gave him the feedback and they’ve learned to trust me.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m so lucky because no other PT gets to go beyond mediocre.”
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The room gives Gatses a chance to really hone in on the needs of JGR’s drivers and crew members, serving as the organization’s own personal doctor’s office. It continues to put the team at the forefront of health and wellness.
“As far as personal training, strength and conditioning and on-site people, all of that is new,” Gatses said. “Now it’s about let’s better you in your position and your skill. I’ll get you normal, then I also work on preventative stuff.
“You see someone get hurt and then you nurse them back to health, then you see them get better. We even have different attachments and stuff we’ve created with our engineers to PT and rehab them back to their actual job. So, if they get hurt and the race is on the weekend, we’re not just going to wait and see on Sunday and see what happens. We’re going to modify things and test it here first.”
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It doesn’t just stop at providing the quality facilities necessary to achieve a higher level of physical performance. Constant dedication to keeping up with the latest medical research plays a huge part, as well.
“We are up-to-date with modern science and clinical experience,” Gatses said. “Just doing it and learning it every single day and working to just getting them as good as good as they can be every single week.
“With medical stuff, everything always changes. You could be right one day, then the next research comes out and says you were wrong. It takes a lot of education and you can’t force it on people.”
At the end of the day, it’s all about taking care of the JGR family. Gatses and Lepp are both very thankful they have all the facilities and resources imaginable to do so.
In a sport where success is separated by thousandths of an inch or thousandths of a second, JGR has taken great strides to ensure its pit crews are on the cutting edge of health and fitness.
“Motorsports is about marginal gains,” Lepp said. “Human performance is 10 marginal gains that might give you a tenth of a second. It’s not we found this one big thing that turned around everything. It’s not some big thing a team finds, it’s usually a bunch of little things. In human performance, it’s about small gains that you implement.”