Atlanta Motor Speedway kicked off the playoffs. The race was not good for the NASCAR veterans. Kyle Larson continued his draft race failure. Shockingly, the NASCAR Cup Series Champion has never won on a drafting track. In his last 13 starts at a drafting track, he finished outside the top 10. And this time, in Atlanta, he got a DNF! The #5 driver on Lap 58 veered sharply into the wall after his rear end started spinning out of control, severely damaged in the crash.

Adding to the list of veterans crashing out was Martin Truex Jr. His final NASCAR season just isn’t going as he would have hoped. MTJ now has 2 back-to-back DNFs. His teammate Denny Hamlin did not start his campaign on a good note either. Hamlin finished 24th! Overall, the playoff opener wasn’t a good day for Joe Gibbs Racing. Even Ty Jibbs, in the end, joined the list of disappointments. Thankfully, Christopher Bell stayed out of the mess. Well, almost did!

Three out of four miss out for Joe Gibbs Racing

JGR had such a wonderful end to the regular season. With all their drivers getting a playoff spot. However, the campaign is not off to a good start. It all began with Denny Hamlin. Firstly, he qualified last and then stayed slow throughout the race, to avoid any wrecks, but in the end, one caught him off guard. As they entered turn 3, Chase Elliott’s erratic maneuver sent Ross Chastain slamming into the wall, causing a pile-up that involved multiple cars, including the #11. Hamlin finished 24th!

According to Hamlin, his strategy was a success. Post the race, he said, “Overall, I didn’t care about what anyone else did, just tried to get 20 points, which is a mid to high team finish. Just trying to get through this round, that’s it.” Following Hamlin was Truex Jr. However, unlike Hamlin, Truex Jr. had a different strategy. He had a good run starting from P22. And he was on track for a good top-10 finish until Lap 205, when things took a turn. Chris Buescher got loose coming out of a corner and crashed into Truex Jr., with defending champ Ryan Blaney also getting caught up in it. That crash pretty much ended Truex Jr.’s day, leaving him with a DNF.

When Joe Gibbs was hoping that all was over for his team in Atlanta, his grandson came to the rescue. Ty Gibbs led for 37 laps and seemed set to grab his first Cup win in the final laps, but he got shuffled back and ended up finishing 18th. All this thanks to a Walmart banner that fell on the track mid-race. Gibbs, although frustrated, was relieved to not bear the fate of MTJ. He said, “I take responsibility for not finishing great at all. It is my fault, but I’m glad we finished the race and got some points.”

Lastly, Christopher Bell had a good run, finishing 4th on the track. All the Joe Gibbs drivers are going to be hopeful to make it to the round of 12 and continue their championship campaigns. Despite a good finish. His run wasn’t without problems. NASCAR penalized Bell after the JGR driver pitted outside the designated pit box. This happened during stage two of the race, when he came onto the pit road, leading to the penalty. He got three penalties. Pitting before pit road was open on two occasions and pitting out of the assigned pit box.

Things are about to get tough for the JCR drivers as the three find themselves trailing in ranking. Here’s how the playoff positions look.

Playoff positions after Atlanta

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Christopher Bell is in the second position behind Ryan Blaney. And sits comfortably, 40 points above the relegation line. After high, Denny Hamlin is in the 11 position +2 points above the cutoff line. Ty Gibbs followed Hamlin in the 12th and is just one point above the line. Lastly, MTJ is in the elimination zone at the 15th position with -19 points below the relegation line. As of now, the battle for the final spots in the round of 12 is between the three JGR drivers.

However, everyone will get a shot at redemption when the second race of the Playoffs moves to Watkins Glen next week. They’ll have to fight William Byron, the last winner of the track. It is the first time Watkins Glen has made it to the playoffs. A second road course in addition to the Charlotte ROVAL is going to make things interesting. Good news, for Hamlin, who finished in P2 on the track last year. He will be looking to repeat that.

Ty Gibbs too managed a top-five finish at the track with a p5. And Martin Truex Jr. wasn’t far behind the youngster either. He ended his race with a P6 finish last year. And lastly, with Christopher Bell’s P3 there, Watkins Glen is definitely a track JGR can look to target as it has proved to be their stronghold. Do you think JGR can make a comeback in the next race? Let us know in the comments below.