Joe Gibbs Racing were hoping to see a repeat of the earlier race at the Bristol Motor Speedway when the final race in the playoff Round of 16 got underway. The first race at the Speedway in March saw Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. in a photo finish, ending up P1 and P2 respectively. However, there was to be no such repeat, as Kyle Larson dominated proceedings and two other JGR drivers were eliminated.

Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs were struck with speeding penalties which ended their playoff campaign. If this wasn’t enough, a video surfaced from the Bristol race has fans accusing the team of cheating!

Bristol Motor Speedway marks unhappy return for JGR

Going in with four drivers in the playoffs, JGR would have believed its chances of making a deeper run were high. But after the end of the first phase, their advantage has been halved. Denny Hamlin finished 4th and Christopher Bell secured a P5 finish to advance, but their other two drivers had disappointing outings.

MTJ had a strong start in the 500-lap event and was placed fourth in stage one and second in stage two. However, he sped in the pit lane and was pushed to the back of the field. Eventually, he finished 24th, a lap down and out of the playoffs. Despite running in the top five, this finish will disappoint Truex Jr. in his retirement season.

The same story applies to the #54, who was running in the top 10 until the speeding penalty ended his championship hopes, as he finished 15th in the race. What will hurt Gibbs more is that he was six points above the cut-off line when he entered the race. After his penalty, Gibbs fought back and even made it to the top 10 late in the race, however, he was unable to keep the momentum as his season came to an end.

To possibly add to their troubles, a recent video from the race has surfaced, in which a cameraman pans inside a JGR garage where crew members are up to something but it is not clearly visible. Upon seeing the camera, one member jumps in astonishment and has a puzzled look as he wipes off his sweat. Fans after this video smell something fishy happening in the Joe Gibbs garage. Here, take a look at the video:

While it could be that the crew member was taken aback by the sudden intrusion, his expressions and the fact he looked unhappy at first, has the fans speculating that something fishy was going on.

The recent outing at the Bristol Motor Speedway means that Joe Gibbs Racing continues to have bitter-sweet results on the track. Back in March, Denny Hamlin won the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway and strengthened his claim for a regular season championship. However, in August, Hamlin and JGR received an L2-level penalty for a violation of NASCAR’s engine inspection requirements. As a result, the #11 lost 75 driver and owner points, as well as 10 playoff points.

Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart, was also fined $100,000. The 10 playoff points lost could have enabled Hamlin to have a stress-free playoff, as, before his Bristol finish, he was in the elimination zone.

This also was a massive dent in his regular-season championship hopes. While the team and the driver were able to bounce back from that, the latest video has again put them under the spotlight. Fans have NASCAR to initiate an inquiry about the incident. Not for the first time, JGR finds itself surrounded by cheating accusations and they have been punished before.

JGR’s history doesn’t bode well as fans smell foul play

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The video from Bristol Motor Speedway has piqued fans’ curiosity, especially after how the crew member reacted. He hastily stood up with a puzzled look, possibly finding it difficult to fathom the camera’s arrival. When he realizes it, he walks toward the cameraman, trying to subtly push him away from the scene. One fan commented, “Yo, bro looks like he was caught red- handed.” Another fan echoed the same emotions when he wrote, “They are definitely up to something based off their reactions.”

The man seen in the video is trying to distract the cameraman by pointing all around the room and also looking everywhere around him. If only the video had some audio, we could have been better detectives. One fan is certain that the team is hiding something and he urges NASCAR to look into it. The fan wrote, “@NASCAR he is definitely cheating! And he looked like he’s going to fight the cameraman too.@bobpockrass @jeff_gluck.”

This is not the first time Joe Gibbs Racing has been accused of cheating. Back in 2008, the Gibbs cars were accused of having magnets on the back of the gas pedal to prevent the gas from being fully depressed, resulting in the cars showing lesser horsepower. Then in 2022, both Denny Hamlin and JGR’s former driver Kyle Busch were penalized by NASCAR after extra layers of vinyl found under the wrap of their car, that essentially modified that area of the lower nose on each car. With NASCAR’s Next Gen cars brought in with the intention of leveling the playing field, the JGR drivers were heavily punished.

Hamlin was stripped of his Pocono Raceway win, making it the first time in 60 years that a driver had his win taken away. Busch was also stripped on his runner-up finish in the race. Perhaps this is why many fans aren’t giving JGR the benefit of the doubt. One fan wrote, “How to Find a Cheater, NASCAR edition.”

Amid the serious accusations, one fan decided to take a sarcastic jibe. He noted that despite cheating, the team couldn’t take the top spot, as Larson was just unbeatable at Bristol after he led the most laps ever by any Hendrick driver. The fan wrote, “Cheating and still can’t catch the 5!”

What do you think of the video? What do you think is happening there? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.