NASCAR standings 2014: Positive signs for Joe Gibbs Racing at Kentucky

When Denny Hamlin slammed the wall because of a tire failure and later Matt Kenseth experiencing tire problems of his own, Saturday night looked like more of the same for Joe Gibbs Racing.

But when the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway concluded, JGR placed two of its three drivers inside the top five. Kyle Busch was runner-up to Brad Keselowski, while Kenseth rallied to finish fourth.

“We haven’t been great this year, so this is certainly a step in the right direction,” Busch said. “Feels nice to have a solid run, lead some laps, and although we faded at the end, we gave it a valiant effort, so hopefully we can take some of this and move forward with it.”

At a mile-and-a-half in length Kentucky is the size of track JGR has predominantly struggled on this season. The organization’s only two victories in 2014 came in March at Auto Club Speedway (Busch), in an attrition-filled race, and then in May at Talladega Superspeedway (Hamlin), a restrictor-plate track. A significant dip in performance for JGR compared to a year ago when Kenseth, Busch and Hamlin combined to win seven races on 1.5-mile tracks.

With half of the Chase for the Sprint Cup tracks the same size as Kentucky, Saturday’s results provide hope that JGR is returning to its 2013 form.

“I feel like we’re gaining on it,” Kenseth said. “I felt like overall it was a positive weekend. We were pretty competitive most of the night tonight.”

Kentucky was certainly an encouraging sign.

Busch was the only non-Team Penske driver to lead laps Saturday, out front for a total of 31 laps, with Kenseth showing enough speed to overcome an unscheduled pit stop. And Hamlin, who escaped injury despite exiting his car slowly, was running well before crashing out on Lap 30.

The challenge is continuing to make gains, as one solid race doesn’t ensure JGR’s intermediate track woes are solved.

“This is one week,” Busch said. “We certainly need to be able to do it weekly on the intermediates.”

Said Joe Gibbs: “I think we were off tonight just enough to wind up getting beat, but you’ve got to give the other guys credit. They’ve done a good job. We need to catch up, and hopefully tonight is a step in the right direction.”