JGR’s hot start on pace with historic 2007 run from Hendrick Motorsports

Joe Gibbs Racing is off to one of the hottest starts in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series history -- a start on pace with the historic opening run from Hendrick Motorsports during the 2007 season. Through 16 races, JGR drivers have reached Victory Lane a combined total of 10 times, placing them in a tie for second-most wins all time in that span -- Hendrick Motorsports (2007) and Peter DePaolo Racing (1957) also reached the 10-win mark. Only the Carl Kiekhaefer Racing team has bested that total, winning 12 out of the first 16 races during the 1956 season. RELATED: Power Rankings | Monster Energy Series standings During the 2007 Hendrick Motorsports run, eventual 2007 Monster Energy Series champion Jimmie Johnson and teammate Jeff Gordon each picked up four wins through 16 races -- a number that both Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. have matched this season. Kyle Busch and Casey Mears also raced their way to early-season victories in 2007 for Hendrick Motorsports, while Denny Hamlin picked up two more checkered flags for JGR this year at Daytona and Texas. The 2007 Hendrick Motorsports team set new marks with 24 top fives and 36 top 10s through the first 16 races. They ended that season with 18 wins and still hold the current record for most wins by a team in a single season in the modern era. With a strong start to the 2019 season, JGR has secured 28 top fives and 42 top 10s, breaking the decade-old records for most all-time in each category and is on pace to match the record 18 wins. Truex picked up his fourth victory of the 2019 campaign Sunday at Sonoma, solidifying the JGR duo with the Hendrick pairing as the only two sets of teammates to have at least four wins apiece in the first 16 races in Monster Energy Series history. Busch last won at Pocono and secured victories at Bristol, Auto Club and Phoenix earlier in the year. With a quartet of race wins already in his pocket, Truex is only trending upward in the "rivalry" with Busch. Truex has come out on top of the field in four of the last eight races, leading a series-high 504 laps over that span. No other driver has more than a single victory in that time frame. RELATED: Teammate 'rivalry' between Kyle Busch, Truex As the series heads to Chicagoland Speedway for Sunday's Camping World 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), history is trending toward another JGR celebration. The last four Monster Energy Series races at the track have been won by Busch (2018), Truex (2017, '16) and Hamlin (2015). Statistics courtesy of Racing Insights