Has Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick’s Dominance Derailed NASCAR’s Pursuit of Its Ultimate Goal?

In every sport, there will always be a period of dominance, where an athlete or a team is just a cut above the competition. For NASCAR in particular, there are two teams that fall into this category, namely NASCAR’s winningest team Hendrick Motorsports, and Joe Gibbs Racing. If one had to compare them to Formula One, HMS and JGR would seem like the Mercedes and Red Bull of NASCAR.

What does NASCAR really want to achieve to boost the sport?

If we talk about stats, in 2024 itself, both organizations have won a staggering nine of the 10 races this season. This includes the LA Coliseum, which saw Denny Hamlin draw first blood. The only outlier was that epic Cup race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway where Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suarez showcased his dominance in an iconic 3-way photo finish, beating Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch.

Truthfully, NASCAR wants a good racing product where the cars are fast and competitive. The way they put it, they wanted some parity between all the teams. In light of this, even Denny Hamlin addressed on his podcast and acknowledged that the sport was far away from it. He said, “They’ve publicly said, ‘We want parity’. I’m clapping my hands because it has been achieved. 100%, parity has been achieved in NASCAR in the sense that everything is the same. You’ve made the drivers the same, you’ve made the cars the same, and now everyone runs the same speed.”

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He warned that the quest for parity has led to new issues. Chief among them is the difficulty in overtaking, which ultimately compromises the racing product. Additionally, if this season is any indication, the usual suspects Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have been ruling the roost. Unfortunately for everyone, it doesn’t look like any other team is able to challenge either team. So one could hardly fault Denny Hamlin’s reaction to the situation.

A look at HMS And JGR’s performance so far and what makes them a formidable force

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After the LA Coliseum, William Byron won the Daytona 500, notching up Hendrick Motorsports’ first win of the season, with HMS’ Alex Bowman and JGR’s Christopher Bell rounding up the Top-3. However, things took a turn the next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Daniel Suarez racked up his second-ever Cup Series win. This was followed up by Suarez’ epic win, where the highest Hendrick and JGR cars were Ty Gibbs in 10th and Chase Elliott in 15th. Suarez was pretty much the only driver that won outside the two dominating teams in the 2024 season.

This is because the remaining races till date, have been dominated by either a Hendrick car or a Joe Gibbs Racing car. One reason for this could be that both teams enjoy a lot more funding compared to other teams. With those extra funds, HMS and JGR are able to figure out the Next Gen cars quicker than others. Front Row Motorsports also coined this term called Tier 1, where teams in this category are higher priority than others for OEMs. So it is safe to say that Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing are Tier 1 teams with Chevrolet and Toyota.

Backing this point, Kyle Larson made it a Chevrolet hat-trick this year, before Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin broke the streak. In the next three races William Byron won two and Denny Hamlin took victory in the remaining one. Now at the AutoTrader Echopark 400, Chase Elliott finally joined the party. Frankly, he could not have picked a better time to end his win drought, as it brought HMS’ Cup win tally to 306. Having said all this, the HMS and JGR dogfight is doing little to achieve NASCAR’s dream for parity on the grid.

Do you think NASCAR can step in and do something to really even the field, or is that a far-fetched dream?