LOUDON, N.H. — Ty Gibbs held up two of his Joe Gibbs Racing playoff teammates while racing outside of the top 10 on Sunday and ended up getting spun for it.
So was Gibbs in the wrong? Or was Denny Hamlin, who sent Gibbs around after running out of patience with their battle?
The answer, at least from this view, is Gibbs.
While the 22-year-old is extremely talented and has fast cars, he is not in this year’s playoffs. And though he should certainly not roll over and allow his championship-contending teammates to pass, there’s also a limit to how hard Gibbs should race them.
This battle wasn’t for the win. It wasn’t even for fifth place. All of the JGR cars were not running as well as expected at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and that heightened the urgency for the two teammates Gibbs was racing — Hamlin and Christopher Bell — to get whatever track position and stage points they could.
Instead, Gibbs insisted on racing his teammates as hard as he would race anyone in the field, even though it seemed clear he was holding them up.
Ultimately, after multiple instances of contact didn’t get his attention, Gibbs got shipped.
The Nos. 11 and 54 get together! @TyGibbs spins and backs it into the wall. pic.twitter.com/Qp9oVyufFF
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 21, 2025
The third-year driver was a popular playoff pick this season and was labeled as NASCAR’s next first-time race winner. But now 117 starts into his career, Gibbs is still winless despite having the equipment to be a consistent threat.
The urgency of needing to prove himself was surely in the back of his mind. But another thought needed to supersede that during the laps-long scrap with teammates: the good of the whole organization, one in which he will play an increasingly important role.
This is a family-run team that needs Ty to be both successful and stable. Ty, team owner Joe Gibbs’ grandson, could someday be groomed for a leadership role as well, but he has to take a step back in moments where the benefit to the whole team is more important than his own.
That’s extremely hard to do for a hard-charging young bull like Gibbs, but instances like Sunday can’t become the norm over a period of time or it will send the wrong message to future employees who are considering working at JGR.
And that’s also why Joe Gibbs, competition director Chris Gabehart and others with influence now have the difficult task of emphasizing to the driver that his own interests must take a back seat during the playoffs when racing against his three teammates who collectively swept Round 1.
Two things can be true here: Gibbs can race hard and feel free to do so, but there also comes a point during a long battle in which it becomes evident it’s not his day. When the latter happens, it’s time to cede the position to a teammate.
For his part, Gabehart did not tip his hand on how he would address the situation but said it was a good problem to have — the type of conversation that becomes necessary when a team is running well.
“There’s a reasonable etiquette to follow where everybody can get what they need out of it,” Gabehart said. “At the same time, you can’t create an atmosphere where everybody just has to roll over and play nice all the time, or you won’t hang as many banners as Joe Gibbs Racing has hung over the years.
“To a certain degree on Sundays, you have to be selfish. It’s a hard thing to balance, and we’ve just got to do a little better job of getting that balanced here.”
A teammate vs. a teammate. pic.twitter.com/hgn89OKlmR
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 21, 2025
Joe Gibbs said he would defer to the drivers to sort it out, and that’s how he’s always handled situations where drivers clash. But Hamlin said “leadership” needed to “quarterback (the dispute) however they’d like to.”
“Obviously us, (Hamlin, Bell and Chase Briscoe) are all trying to win a championship for their family,” Hamlin said of Gibbs. “So it’s crazy unfortunate why we’re racing the way we are.”
Hamlin said he “certainly did not want to spin out a teammate” but was “trying to get space to race” when the two made contact again. The clash between the veteran and young driver was particularly notable because Hamlin has served as somewhat of a mentor to Gibbs (“I definitely have more dialogue with him than any of the other teammates I have,” Hamlin said).
“He’s certainly got a very high ceiling of talent,” Hamlin said. “Just understanding down and distance seems to be the struggle.”
Penske Power
After JGR swept Round 1 and dominated each race, doubts began to creep in about Team Penske’s performance. Could the team’s cars really find speed again at this time of year, or did the other organizations finally catch up?
Well, New Hampshire certainly answered that one.
“The reality is it’s playoff season, and here come the yellow cars, subpar with metrics along the way, but those guys know how to get it done when it counts,” Gabehart said.
Those “yellow cars” were race winner Ryan Blaney — into Round 3 for the fifth straight time — and Joey Logano, who launched himself from below the cutoff line back into a solid position in just one race.
With his win Sunday at New Hampshire, Ryan Blaney put himself back into the Round of 8 for the fifth straight year. (Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
Blaney and Logano combined to lead 263 laps of the 301-lap race — with close alliance teammate Josh Berry of Wood Brothers Racing also leading 10 laps and finishing second in the race.
“The biggest thing you’ve got to take away from today is with this (short-track) aero package, with the same tire as Phoenix, at a one-mile racetrack, the Penske cars are completely untouchable again,” Gabehart said.
It was an eye-opener not just in terms of how fast the Penske cars were, but how well the Hendrick Motorsports cars performed at one of their worst tracks and how the Toyota cars seemed off compared to their excellent Round 1.
“I didn’t think (JGR) had the pace I expected out of them,” Blaney said. “I saw it in practice a little bit — like Denny always runs really good here, Christopher Bell, and they didn’t seem to really be as good as they have in the past.
“This sport is just ebbs and flows. It’s waves, ups-and-downs. Never know how you’re going to unload. Just try to do the best job you can in prep and setups through the week, and you never know where it can wind up.”
Playoff format’s future
NASCAR’s playoff committee met again on Wednesday, likely for the third and final time, and gave feedback on the proposed 3-3-4 format — two, three-race rounds with eliminations after each, followed by a four-race championship round for the final drivers — that was previously reported by The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi.
I’ve previously written about being on the playoff committee and, in the interest of transparency, shared a recap in July. At that time, it seemed unlikely anything would change for 2026; since then, though, NASCAR has had more urgency to make this season the final edition of the oft-criticized one-race championship round.
Wednesday’s meeting was notable for the surprising amount of significant figures within the sport stumping for a return to a full-season, non-playoff format — the traditional way NASCAR decided its champions until 2004.
In fact, most of the speakers favored going to the 36-race championship and marked a significant change in course from the first meeting in February, when only one person spoke on behalf of the 36-race format. (As a condition of reporting on the proceedings, The Athletic was asked not to attach any names to specific comments from a private meeting.)
In full disclosure, I also now believe going back to 36 races would be the best for NASCAR’s long-term health — after previously believing a return to the 10-race “Chase” or even a five-race “mini-Chase” would be best.
That said, it doesn’t feel like the 36-race format is likely to be the chosen option. Perhaps in a vacuum where money doesn’t matter, NASCAR would opt to eliminate playoffs altogether.
But when I asked committee members to list some of the downsides of a 36-race season so I could have a fuller understanding, points were made about how tracks have more fan energy around hosting playoff events and teams see at least some degree of benefit from sponsors when their cars make the playoffs (and thus get shown on television more often).
Then there’s TV’s interest, which was previously centered around eliminations and playoffs being good for attracting viewers on NFL Sundays in the fall. NASCAR, though, told the committee it was pleased when NBC conveyed during a separate private meeting recently that it wanted to take a hands-off approach and trusted NASCAR officials to make the best choice for stock car racing.
That’s where things were left with the committee as well: The decision is now in NASCAR’s hands. The committee did not vote on a preferred format and is not determining the final outcome, but rather gave feedback on what elements a new system could include in 2026.
For example: There’s much momentum behind getting rid of the confusing “playoff points” system and just awarding points based on finish in the regular-season championship. And there’s debate over how many drivers should make the field, as well as how to advance through the rounds.
Either way, it felt like NASCAR will take it from here and decide whether to continue the playoffs in a modified form with some tweaks — or perhaps pull a late stunner and go with the 36-race format. That said, a decision will almost certainly not be announced before Phoenix in order not to overshadow this year’s likely final version of the one-race championship.
Up next: Another unknown?
In a “sign of the times” moment with the NASCAR schedule, next weekend’s return trip to Kansas marks the first visit NASCAR has made to a traditional 1.5-mile intermediate track layout since Memorial Day weekend.
Five of the first 13 races this season were held on 1.5-mile tracks, but the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25 was the last time the Cup Series has been on one (not counting Atlanta, which is now a superspeedway-style circuit).
“I don’t really know what to expect, to be honest with you,” Blaney said. “It’s been awhile, and things could be massively different than what you saw at Charlotte — or it could be the exact same.”
If Hamlin had to predict, he said it would be “likely the same cast of characters” who typically excel on a 1.5-mile track as usual. Kyle Larson (Homestead and Kansas), Berry (Las Vegas), Logano (Texas) and Ross Chastain (Charlotte) have won at the traditional 1.5-mile tracks so far this season.
Kansas and Las Vegas, which opens Round 3, are the remaining 1.5-mile tracks this season. Is Larson optimistic he can pick up where he left off at that type of racetrack?
“It sounds like there may be a different tire or slightly different tire, so we’ll see,” Larson said.
Indeed, Goodyear is bringing a right-side tire with a construction change (but not a compound change) — and we’ve seen how much the tire can be a variable in recent races.
Championship 4cast
Each week during the playoffs, we’re taking a look at the current projections to advance to NASCAR’s championship race at Phoenix in November.
1. Ryan Blaney (last week: 3; pre-playoffs: 2). After Sunday, there’s nothing scarier for the field than the prospect of Blaney making the Championship 4 again. The competition had better hope he somehow gets eliminated in Round 3.
2. Denny Hamlin (last week: 2; pre-playoffs: 2). That was not at all what people expected to see from the No. 11 team at New Hampshire, but Kansas provides a golden opportunity to secure a Round 3 berth before the Roval. “Truthfully, if you would ask, ‘Where would you rather go and race?’ I’d probably pick a mile-and-a-half over short tracks, which is unique to say,’” Hamlin said.
3. Chase Briscoe (last week: 1; pre-playoffs: 4). A “bad” day for Briscoe still resulted in a top-10 finish, although he suddenly finds himself on the cutoff line despite an excellent Round 1. Still, the next two tracks should be strong for him.
4. Kyle Larson (last week: not ranked; pre-playoffs: not ranked). We saw some flashes from the No. 5 team at New Hampshire that felt promising; if Larson can go out and prove his group is just as strong at the intermediate tracks as always, he could be looking at a Championship 4 return.
Honorable mention: Christopher Bell, William Byron, Joey Logano.
(Top photo of Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell during Sunday’s race: David Hahn / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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