Ryan Blaney may have taken the checkered flag and secured his Round of 8 spot at Loudon, but the Denny Hamlin–Ty Gibbs controversy has practically stolen the spotlight. The fallout between the two in New Hampshire, which happened on Lap 110 for 11th place, is the talk of the town, which isn’t surprising given the high stakes for Joe Gibbs Racing’s playoff chase. Fans and insiders across the community have begun to take sides, and Dale Jr has his own stand on the matter.

Post the clash, inclining more towards Hamlin’s side, Dale Jr questioned Gibbs’ motives, “I’m have a hard time understanding like what was his what his motive. What was his motive?” However, according to him, the real story isn’t just about blame, but about how JGR plans to handle this fallout and focus on other important issues.

Dale Jr shares his perspective

On his Dale Jr Download, Dale Jr revealed how, post the race, he spoke about the Hamlin-Gibbs incident to Chris Gabehart, JGR’s former crew chief and present Competition Director. “I think Gabehart don’t bullsh-t… he was like, ‘Everybody ought to be worried about the Penske cars.’ To hell with this little dispute, and he’ll handle that behind closed doors this week.”

Gabehart knows that the issue that took place was trivial compared to the Penske domination that was seen in the race. Race-winner Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano combined to lead a massive 263 of 301 laps. To add to that, the final battle between Blaney and Josh Berry was also a treat to watch for some clean racing display. This teamwork has surely made the rival camps envious of their camaraderie and potential when things matter the most.

Dale Jr added, “He’s like, ‘We ought to be worried about how the Penske cars ran today, they’re untouchable.’ This is basically Phoenix, which is true, that’s the bigger picture.” That ‘untouchable’ claim for the Penske cars by Gabehart was agreed by Denny Hamlin himself, who agreed that the team could show the same feat in the final race, as both Loudon and Phoenix tracks share the same tire situation.

“If we re-racked and ran tomorrow, we would have the same result… We’re not going to be able to tweak our way to the speed that the Penske cars have. If they carry that speed, we will not overcome that, if it correlates to Phoenix,” said Hamlin.

But Dale Jr shared how the situation would likely turn out within the camp, probably a bit sternly. “They’ll handle it, Gabehart’s in a different role now. He’s not a crew chief, he’s kind of more of a general manager. He’s also been more hands-on as a crew chief in that role with Ty this year. So I think Gabehart has the ability and he’ll be the one, if not the person, that sets the tone and puts his foot down and says, ‘This is the expectation.’ I think, I would assume, see a change or see Ty Gibbs make different choices next time.”

Despite the fact that Ty Gibbs is a family heir, Dale Jr’s insight says that discipline and hierarchy respect would remain central at JGR. As Gabehart is now in a managerial role and has been closely involved with Ty this season, he carries the authority to set some strict expectations for the team and enforce consequences if needed.

Hamlin wants JGR leadership to intervene

Hamlin had described this entire situation as frustrating, saying, “It’s just too difficult to win naturally, much less if we’re going have the ‘everyone just races for themselves and it doesn’t matter whether you’re racing for a championship or not.'”

The veteran believes that leadership intervention is necessary to set clear expectations moving forward. “What I want to happen is leadership (to) step in and tell us, what do you want us to do?…you need leadership to step in and say, ‘Well, this is how we want it done.’ And then we will play by those rules. Whatever those rules are, I will play by those rules. But I have been told in the past, if you’re not in it, you do everything you can to help your teammates that are in.”

Hamlin’s comments show he’s all in to follow the instructions given by the team, but certainly expects the basic teamwork mentality that’s expected in high-stakes races like the playoffs.

Meanwhile, when Joe Gibbs himself was asked about this, and whether he would intervene in the matter to cool it down once and for all, he laid the burden on the drivers instead, “It’s always the drivers that have to handle that..that’s always the case. That’s what we’ll do.”

While Joe Gibbs stresses personal accountability to resolve issues, only time will tell how this chapter finally closes for good, as the real test will come at the upcoming Kansas race, where these internal team dynamics and playoff stakes will show whether JGR has truly learned its lessons from New Hampshire or not.