The tides are turning already. Joe Gibbs’ drivers were the highlights in the Round of 16, sweeping all three races. However, the Round of 12 opener at New Hampshire saw Roger Penske taking over the reins. Joey Logano, the 2024 Cup Series champion, led for 147 laps and won Stage 2. His teammate, Ryan Blaney, led for 116 laps, won Stage 1, and eventually went on to clinch the victory. Meanwhile, Gibbs’ drivers are in the midst of an internal conflict.

Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin are all vying for a championship. All three, especially three-time Magic Mile winner Hamlin, were in the spotlight this weekend. However, their non-playoff teammate, Ty Gibbs, threw a wrench in their plans. This caused a ruckus and elicited concerning words from the team’s competition director.

Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief sounds the alarm

For the past three years, Team Penske has deceived its rivals. After leading mostly lackluster or average regular seasons, the Ford team’s drivers spring to life during the playoffs. And their strength on one-mile short tracks is well known, with Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano winning in Phoenix three times in a row. Hence, Chris Gabehart, JGR’s competition director and Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief, was concerned after the results in New Hampshire. He said, “I think the biggest thing you have to take away from today is with this aero package, with the same tires at Phoenix, a one-mile race track, the Penske cars are completely untouchable again. So, I know what it’s like to be untouchable. We’ve been fortunate enough to be on the right side of that, but the reality is, we got a lot of work to do.”

The work just doubled with the fallout of simmering tensions. Shortly into Stage 2, Ty Gibbs stood stubbornly in Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell‘s paths. After warning bumps, Hamlin eventually spun Gibbs’s car out of the way. Initially, Gabehart, who won 22 races earlier as the No. 11 Toyota crew chief, chided both teammates’ positions. He said, “[Denny] was probably looking for more of a break than he got. That’s what I would guess. That’s what I saw. The hard part is the 54 is trying to win races and trying to make a name for himself as well.” He added, “I think there’s a reasonable etiquette to follow to where everybody can get what they need out of it.”

However, Chris Gabehart sounded the war call for his team. At this juncture of the playoffs, aggressive moves like Denny Hamlin’s are perfectly justifiable considering JGR’s rivalry with Team Penske. Gabehart said, “At the same time, you can’t create an atmosphere where everybody just has to roll over and play nice all the time either, or you won’t hang as many banners as Joe Gibbs Racing has hung over the years. And that goes for every position. You guys see and talk about the drivers the most, but it’s the crew chiefs, the engineers, and you know, the pit crew members, and you know, to a certain degree, on Sundays, you have to be selfish. So, it’s a hard thing to balance, and we’ve just got to do a little bit better job of getting that balanced here today.”

While Joe Gibbs’ drivers jostled with their personal goals, fans were also left in a confused frenzy.

NASCAR fans throw shots at both racers

While the intense competition for the 2025 Cup Series championship exists, aggression is still concerning. That is what fans pointed out and mainly blamed Ty Gibbs for the chaos. Joe Gibbs’ grandson infamously deprived Brandon Jones of his Championship 4 spot in the 2022 Xfinity Series season. He is known for his penchant for getting into his own teammates, so one fan downplayed Gabehart’s hopes: “You ain’t hanging banners with ty behind the wheel.” Somebody else called out Ty’s defiance to leave room for his playoff teammates. They appreciated Denny Hamlin’s retaliatory moves: “We all saw the 54 banging doors with the 4, 20 and 11 leading up to it. He deserved what he got.”

There was a fierce expression of emotions over the radio while the fiasco unfolded. Denny Hamlin voiced his frustration while asking his team to communicate with Ty Gibbs. As he resorted to aggression after nothing worked, Gibbs simply said, “Game on.” This frustrated not only Hamlin but also one fan, who wrote, “Who was the late to the party mouth breather with the microphone?” Another fan observed a peculiar incident after Gibbs’ wreck. The No. 54 Toyota driver apparently was not in the mood to race: “With four laps to go, I could see him pulling over, there was still more than half the race to go.”

Then, of course, Denny Hamlin’s detractors also arrived in the comments section. What social media post will go without NASCAR’s black hat receiving a bunch of negative words? One fan called out Hamlin for his aggressive moves against Gibbs: “Intentionally wrecked, park the 11.”

Evidently, Joe Gibbs’ team has some cleanup work to do before the next playoff race. Let’s wait and see if Denny Hamlin can resolve the tension with his teammate soon enough.