If you’re wondering where the victories end and all those top ten Ross Chastain Coming from, look no further than Joe Gibbs Racing. Now that they’ve driven with the right gear, Chastain and Kurt Busch snatch a rundown of the top 10 performances JGR has been piling up last season.
In a sense, there is some new equivalence in NASCAR Cup Series. It just doesn’t come from new faces.
Trackhouse Racing and 23XI Racing show smart growth
track racing and 23XI Racing came aboard the NASCAR Cup Series as single-car teams a year ago, and each signed a smart free agent as the team grew off-season. With Chip Ganassi Racing out of NASCAR, Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain were in attendance for the fun. Chastain was winless in his Cup Series career, but he had 115 starts under his belt. Bosch has 33 wins and 756 appearances on the table.
Michael Jordan 23XI Racing has signed Busch to complement Bubba Wallace, and he leads the organization. Busch owns four out of five of the top 10 races in 23XI with 10 races. At this time last year, Wallace had not yet reached the Billboard Top 10.
Meanwhile, Trackhouse has brought in Chastain to drive alongside Daniel Suarez, and both have thrived. Talladega was Chastain’s second win this season, and he has finished in the top ten six times. Suarez suffers from consistency, but has three in the top 10 after only posting one at this point in 2021.
Other than the Trackhouse’s newly acquired middle class status and 23 XI, whose gains came in large part from Joe Gibbs Racing’s loss of ground, no team makes meaningful gains in the Cup series. And with Hendrick Motorsports, JGR and Team Penske still counting for more than half of the top ten, the parity talk is exaggerated.
Joe Gibbs Racing retracts its first year for the next generation car
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If Trackhouse Racing and 23XI Racing put cars in the top 10 in a much larger segment than they did a year ago, someone else is slipping. That other guy is Joe Gibbs Racing.
The JGR Toyotas won twice (Kyle Busch in Bristol and Denny Hamlin in Richmond), at the same pace as 2021. However, when they don’t win, they don’t do much, even though Kyle Busch and Martin Truex are piling points.
This time last year, Joe Gibbs Racing had 24 top-10 spots, which is twice as many as Hendrick Motorsports because Kyle Larson had yet to rip for the final two-thirds of the season. This year, JGR has just 17 of the top 10 offerings:
- Bush single-handedly holds his win and seven spots in the top ten, equaling Chase Elliott for the lead.
- Truex did not win, but finished overall in the top half of the field and posted five top-10 results.
- Christopher Bell (14y in points) four of the top 10 shows, but Denny Hamlin (24yHe only has one in Richmond.
With 10 races in 2021, all four drivers were in the top 11 for points. Apparently JGR didn’t discover the next-generation car as quickly as some of the other teams.
All eyes on Dover will be on Hendrick Motorsports
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Not surprisingly, Hendrick Motorsports’ well-funded team has mostly been doing well. Chase Elliott doesn’t win but Leading the NASCAR Cup Series with Points. Defending champion Kyle Larson was the last among their drivers, but worked his way up to seventh in points.
The four combined for 22 finishes in the top 10, where they were exactly in 2021. The reason to note is that NASCAR returns to Dover this weekend. A year ago, Bowman’s 48th Chevy led Hendrik’s top-four drive at Dover, which qualified as the best finish in this year’s Cup Series.
Repetition is going to be a bit tricky, but landing in the top ten isn’t.
Below is a summary of the top 10 results of the top ten teams in the 2022 Cup Series.
- 22- Hendrick Motorsports (22 of last year’s top 10)
- 17 – Joe Gibbs Racing (24)
- 13 – Team Penske (15)
- 11 – Stewart Haas Racing (9)
- 9 – Richard Childress Racing (8)
- 9 – Trackhouse Racing (1 as a team of 1 car)
- 5 – 23XI Racing (none as a one-car team)
- 4 – Petit GMS Motorsports (2 as one car team)
- 3 – RFK Racing (3)
- 3 – Front Row Racing (4)
Kaulig Racing, Spire Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing and JTG Daugherty Racing have one of the top ten spots.
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Related: NASCAR Cup 2022 Series standings updated after Ross Chastain’s Talladega win