How Joe Gibbs Racing got back on top in the NASCAR Cup Series

All five top-tier Camry drivers had visited Victory Lane before June. Toyota went on to win eight more races and placed Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards into the final four for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway — but lost the championship to Chevrolet and Jimmie Johnson.

Fast forward to 2017. Halfway through the season, Martin Truex Jr., was the only driver winning in a Camry. Was there something wrong with Joe Gibbs Racing? Had Carl Edwards’ abrupt departure taken a toll?

Or was the company simply setting its sights on the playoffs and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup? If JGR was sandbagging earlier in the season, then the team’s embarrassment of riches could lead to a massacre of the Fords and Chevrolets in the final 10 races.

It’s one of those thing like when you’re struggling as a baseball player, you try not to hit home runs right away, you try to hit singles

No. 11 crew chief Mike Wheeler

Crew chief Mike Wheeler, who picked up his second win of the season with Denny Hamlin on Sunday at Darlington Raceway, credits hard work and ingenuity with righting the ship.

“It’s funny, mid-season everyone was saying, ‘How come JGR and the 11 car aren’t wining races and aren’t running up front?’ We’ve been getting closer and closer over the last couple of months,” Wheeler said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Morning Driver on Tuesday. “I looked at the stats this morning and we’ve been running in the top five in all but two races for the last two months which was Indy where we wrecked, and some place else (Michigan) where we had an issue.”

Since the second half of the season started at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, JGR has won four of the last seven races. Truex, Toyota’s other weekly contender and the regular-season champion, apparently missed the memo about playing possum until the playoffs. He leads the series with four wins, 17 top-10 finishes and 1,448 laps led.

One step at a time

But for some reason, the JGR Toyotas lacked the speed — and consistency — that Furniture Row Racing has enjoyed all season.

“It wasn’t one thing,” Wheeler said of JGR’s slow start to the season. “It’s one of those thing like when you’re struggling as a baseball player, you try not to hit home runs right away, you try to hit singles. That’s what we were trying to do. We were running eighth and sixth and that kind of deal. We were not in the top tier group.

“The first thing we had to do was get more speed in the car while maximizing our balance. If the balance of our car wasn’t right, you’re not going to win races. The aero package changed over the winter. It was enough of a change from the past year that we didn’t know how it would react in the race. We had to learn that the hard way almost at first. But once we got the cars driving better — and Denny got used to the feel more and learned a few key items that made us perform better — we came back to the shop and worked on the cars with the help of Toyota and JGR.”

Updating and improving the cars is a never-ending process for teams. Wheeler said the team picked up on data at Darlington that will transfer to Richmond where Hamlin has won three Cup races and is the defending winner of Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400.

Turning point

But Hamlin’s victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway marked a sea change for the No. 11 Fed Ex team.

“This win meant a lot, but Loudon was a big deal because it got the pressure off of us as far as having to win or maximize every point,” Wheeler said. “We were hoping to be top-five in points, but we knew that all it takes is a flat tire or a crash and all of the sudden you’re a couple of points out of it.

“I know there are three guys there within a few points of each other for the last spot and if someone outside of the playoff bubble wins, it’s going to be interesting. But ultimately, the best thing we can do for ourselves and our teammate is to win the race and get the 20 car in. Right now they’re in as long as one of those guys on the outside doesn’t win. But I’d like those extra five points going into the playoffs.”

Hamlin is currently fifth in the standings with one race left to determine the playoff grid. After Sunday’s win at Darlington, Wheeler believes the team and JGR are both heading in the right direction but he hopes to keep building momentum all the way to the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“I like the progression of our team,” Wheeler said. “It’s one of those things like when we won Loudon. It was important to me that we carried on the educational process for myself, Denny and all the guys on the team that we understood what we were doing before the weekend and that we learned during the weekend and afterwards, evaluating appropriately so that we get better and better.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Hey, this was a good idea,’ but we have to make sure we’re on the same page so we can be more efficient going into playoffs and make sure we maximize everything we've got.”