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How do you race a teammate for a title shot? JGR drivers may find out Sunday
Three of Joe Gibbs Racing’s drivers are within two points of each other as they attempt to make the final round of the Chase.
Given the team’s success in 2016, it’s not inconceivable in the slightest to think Kyle Busch (4,074 points), Denny Hamlin (4,072) and Matt Kenseth (4,073) could be running around each other in the closing laps of Sunday’s race at Phoenix. How would they race each other if passing a teammate meant a berth in the final round of the Chase? Would a driver be willing to use the bumper and move a teammate out of the way?
“No I would not, that’s my answer today,” Hamlin said.
“Absolutely,” Busch said.
The three drivers are racing for two open spots in the final round. Though if Kevin Harvick (or someone else) is leading the race late, there could only be one spot up for grabs. No matter what, we know that at least one of the three Gibbs cars will miss the Chase.
In 2014, Ryan Newman slammed Kyle Larson into the wall to get the position he needed to make the final four at Homestead. But Newman and Larson weren’t teammates. So the dynamic is a bit different when you’re racing a team you share information with.
But Richmond this spring might have set the JGR precedent. Carl Edwards — the lone JGR car already qualified for the final four — nudged Busch out of the way for the win there. If you can move a teammate for a win (remember, Edwards was already in the Chase by winning at Bristol), you can move him for a Chase berth, right?
Kenseth wasn’t asked directly about bumping a teammate out of the way Friday, but said he wanted to know where he was in the standings late in the race in case he needed to pull a Newman.
“I think it’s totally just – if there’s five seconds in front of you and five seconds behind you and there’s nothing you can do about it I don’t know that it matters,” Kenseth said. “But if it’s like it was with Ryan Newman a couple years ago where he needed that one spot and he had to bonsai it in there to get that one spot of course you want to know that.”
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
