by Patrick Zier | Oct 30, 2025 |
It was supposed to be a warm-up. It might have been a warning. Three top Toyotas, two of them headed for Phoenix and a shot at the NASCAR Cup championship, all blew up Sunday at Martinsville.
Denny Hamlin, who has 20 years at Joe Gibbs Racing and 19 playoff appearances without a title, and JGR newcomer Chase Briscoe, also in the final four, both lost engines during the race along with Riley Herbst, who drives for Hamlin’s 23X1 team.
This is starting to become a bit of a concern for Toyota and particularly Hamlin, who has had some problems prior to the race at Martinsville. The week before at Talladega, Hamlin had a throttle issue. The throttle regulates the air-fuel mixture flowing to the engine which is obviously critical to the car’s performance. And before that in the Kansas race, he had trouble with his power steering.
While these issues seem unrelated, if any of them – or something else – pops up at Phoenix, Hamlin could once again be denied any chance at a championship, as has happened numerous times in the past.
“I could be worried but I can’t do anything about it so I’m still optimistic,” Hamlin told reporters at Martinsville according to NASCAR’s website.
“We’re gonna put our best foot forward and hopefully it’s enough. That’s all I can do. Our performance is good, we’re running up front,” Hamlin said. “As long as we can keep it together we’re fast and capable. I think I’m gonna have to win next week to win the championship, and we’re gonna come prepared to do that,” Hamlin declared.
Team owner Joe Gibbs said Toyota and JGR examined the faulty engine parts after the Martinsville race in an effort to determine what went wrong and correct it.
“We got all the parts out,” Gibbs said according to NASCAR.com’s website. “We looked at everything. I think issues with the motors are always concerning. You never want that to happen.
“I think we kind of understand where we are and what those parts were (that caused the engine failure) and have made adjustments. Those parts will not be in the cars this week so we feel good about that,” Gibbs declared.
Neither Gibbs nor Toyota have identified what parts failed, but it is reasonable to assume Toyota thought they were reliable when they were originally installed, and if that’s true then there’s no way to be sure replacement parts won’t break as well.
Engine failures are a rarity in NASCAR now but Gibbs’ comments, while reassuring, didn’t seem to indicate that Toyota knows for sure exactly what happened and if that’s the case, it can’t be sure something won’t happen again.
Whether or not he wins the championship, which is about the last thing Hamlin has left on his racing to-do list before he retires, possibly in two years, he has clearly been the dominant driver in Cup this year.
Extremely perceptive and with the most analytical mind in the sport, Hamlin has been able to make adjustments as he ages that has kept him on top at a time, he’s nearly 45, when almost all of his competitors would be getting out of their cars.
His six wins are the more than any driver this year and his ability to understand and get the most out of his equipment, his ability to pace himself, to know when he needs to make a move and when he doesn’t, give him a mental edge over the competition.
“I think his experience, as you know in pro sports that’s just something you can’t teach, gives him an advantage,” Gibbs, who was a Super Bowl winning coach before he went into racing, commented.
“You’ve got to experience things and he understands that,” Gibbs continued. “He works extremely hard on the sim (the racing simulator), his preparation and everything else he needs to do to get ready to race.
“That’s where his experience really means a lot,” Gibbs remarked. “He understands you’ve got to be able to get to the final four, and we’ve done that, and now it’s down to one race and you’ve got to make it happen.”
There’s no question Hamlin will do his part. The question is, as it has been in the past, whether situations beyond his control and his supporting cast will do theirs.
NASCAR NOTES
Old Guy Sport pre-playoff final four picks: Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, William Byron. Drivers in the final four: Hamlin, Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Byron.
Three most likely winners at Phoenix Sunday: 1-Blaney, 2-Hamlin, 3-Larson. First race winner at Phoenix this year: Christopher Bell. Top five in first Phoenix race: 1-Bell, 2-Hamlin, 3-Larson, 4-Josh Berry, 5-Chris Buescher.
Last week’s OGS Martinsville picks: 1-Blaney, 2-Bell, 3-Hamlin. Martinsville winner: Byron. OGS record after 29 races: 13-15 (no Pocono pick) .464.
OGS competition index top 10 after 29 races: 1-Hamlin 652 points, 2-Briscoe 507, 3-Larson 500, 4-Bell 473, 5-Blaney 465, 6-Byron 439, 7-Shane van Gisbergen 368, 8-Chase Elliott 274, 9-Bubba Wallace 186, 10-Joey Logano 185.
OGS competition index top 10 on short tracks (tracks similar to Phoenix): 1-Blaney 222, 2-Hamlin 211, 3-Byron 185, 4-Bell 161, 5-Larson 147, 6-Briscoe 122, 7-Logano 96, 8-Elliott 91, 9-Brad Keselowski 80, 10-Alex Bowman 74.
by Patrick Zier | Oct 26, 2025 |
Denny Hamlin is in. He was the first of the three from Joe Gibbs Racing to make the final four. Chase Briscoe is in. He survived Talladega. And Christopher Bell is in; well sort of.
He’s the highest ranked playoff driver who hasn’t got a win, one of a group behind Hamlin and Briscoe vying for the final two spots at Martinsville Sunday. And if Bell makes it, that gives JGR three of the final four in the race at Phoenix which will determine the 2025 NASCAR Cup champion
And Bell is in pretty good shape. First off, he’s pretty strong on the short tracks, like Martinsville. And second, because of the way the playoff points are structured, even if he doesn’t win at Martinsville he’s so far ahead in points it will be difficult for anybody to catch him, and if he finishes second he’s guaranteed the last spot in the final four.
And that would give Joe Gibbs Racing three contenders vying for the 2025 NASCAR Cup championship in next week’s race at Phoenix. The last spot could go to Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, right behind Bell in points, or maybe Penske’s Ryan Blaney, one of the sport’s most underrated drivers (despite winning a championship) and the Penske team leader despite all the talk about Joey Logano.
So what does that mean for JGR? How do you handle a situation where all three playoff drivers, assuming that’s the case, are going for one trophy and all of them are working out of the same shop?
“I don’t think it will be any different because at JGR you compete for wins against your teammates all the time,” Briscoe, the team’s most recent winner with the victory at Talladega, commented according to NASCAR’s website.
“If I’m going to go against anybody I hope it’s them because I feel like at the end of the day, if one of us can’t win it then we hope the other guy does, right?” Briscoe said.
“I hope Bell gets in because it would be a huge thing for our company to have a three-in-four shot. And I feel good about Chris going into Martinsville,” Briscoe continued.
“Hopefully he can get in. Hopefully all three of us can be going for it (the championship). That would be a pretty special thing. Hopefully, we don’t screw it up.”
And Briscoe knows it can be screwed up because he watched it happen during the playoff race at Kansas. JGR and Toyota had the race firmly in control, with Hamlin dominating, until the end, when one-by-one, the Toyotas started taking each other out.
On the last two restarts, Bell was in the front row when he got run up the track by Bubba Wallace, also in a Toyota, once the green waved with both going for the win.
Briscoe, right behind Bell and with a shot at the checkers, had to check up once Wallace slapped Bell and Bell slapped the wall, losing his momentum and taking him out of contention.
That left Hamlin and Wallace charging toward the finish, but in turn three Wallace and Hamlin bumped, allowing Chase Elliott to slip underneath them and win the race
So Elliott sneaked off with the win. And the others? Well, Hamlin was second, Bell third, Briscoe fourth and Wallace fifth. That’s really good, really close. But close doesn’t count except in horseshoes and it certainly doesn’t count in playoff racing.
So what about the season-ender at Phoenix? Well, in the first race there early this year, Hamlin won and Bell was second. Briscoe, new to JGR, was still figuring out how to drive a super fast car, which he now knows how to do.
So you’ve got to figure one of them has a very good chance to win the championship – if they can figure out how to get to the finish line in one piece.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Martinsville: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Denny Hamlin. First race winner at Martinsville: Hamlin. Top five in first race at Martinsville: 1-Hamlin, 2-Bell, 3-Bubba Wallace, 4-Chase Elliott, 5-Kyle Larson.
Old Guy Sport Talladega picks: No picks. Talladega is a super speedway race and OGS does not count super speedways in its standings because the winner is determined primarily by luck and avoiding the “big wreck.” OGS season record: 13-14, .481, no Pocono pick.
OGS competition index top 10 after 28 races: 1-Hamlin 652 points, 2-Chase Briscoe 507, 3-Larson 490, 4-Bell 473, 5-Blaney 409, 6-Shane van Gisbergen 368, 7-William Byron 364, 8-Elliott 244, 9-Wallace 186, 10-Joey Logano 185.
OGS competition index top 10 on short tracks (tracks similar to Martinsville): 1-Hamlin 211, 2-Blaney 166, 3-Bell 161, 4-Larson 137, 5-Briscoe 122, 6-Byron 110, 7-Joey Logano 96, 8-Brad Keselowski 80, 9-Alex Bowman 74, 10-Josh Berry 65.
by Patrick Zier | Oct 23, 2025 |
TAMPA – South Florida Coach Alex Golesh was talking about this week’s matchup with Memphis, a game that will have a major impact on both teams and a game whose outcome will create a ripple effect throughout the American Conference and beyond.
That’s because the winner of this game will establish itself as one of the favorites to win the championship in the American and the team that wins the championship in the American will be an odds-on favorite to be the Group of Five representative in the College Football Playoff.
Golesh doesn’t want his team thinking that way, though. He wants his players zeroed in on the things that have gotten them to this point, what they can do to get better and not what it all means and what it might lead to.
“If we don’t take care of business right now, there’s nothing to look forward to,” Golesh said. “I think you can either put pressure on yourself in that regard or you can just go to work and worry about being the best version of yourself and then there is no pressure because all you can do is be the best you can be.
“I think elite teams, that’s how they operate,” he continued. “The really good football teams I’ve been a part of operate on a day-to-day basis regardless of the opponent, regardless of any sort of situation and what better proof do you need than what the team we’re playing went through last week.”
Which brings us to Memphis. Like the Bulls, the Tigers are 6-1. Unlike the Bulls, whose only loss is to powerful Miami, Memphis, then a top 25 team, lost to UAB, a constant back marker in the American with only two wins, one over a nondescript Akron team and the other over Alabama State from the FCS, a division below the American.
The loss follows a pattern in college football this fall, where top teams are unexpectedly ambushed be lesser opponents and brought to their knees. “You can say what you want,” Golesh said. “UAB played high level football last week and was able to win a game against a team that was in the top 25.”
Then Golesh issued what might be construed as a warning to his own team. “Is Memphis a worse team because they got beat by UAB?” Golesh asked. “I mean they’re still the same team, they’re still the same players. It truly is a mindset that you have to take care of your business today and only today matters,” Golesh added.
USF has been on a roll recently, averaging 57 points a game over the last four weeks. That includes a 63-36 win over a good North Texas team and a 54-26 shellacking of Charlotte.
But hidden in those stats is the fact that the Bulls allowed 62 points in those two games, which means the defense wasn’t exactly stellar. And it’s things like that Golesh wants his team honing in on, not how important this game might be and its ramifications over the long run.
“It’s about us,” he declared. “It’s about our process and our daily habits and creating a sense of confidence through our preparation as we go through the week.”
And the defense can play better. If you throw out the North Texas and Charlotte games, USF is giving up an average of just 12.4 points per game. That would be sixth best in the country.
But as UAB proved, you have to be at your best all the time, every game, or bad things can happen, as Memphis has found out. And now, with one unexpected conference loss, Memphis has its back to the wall.
“It’s just like I said in the past,” Memphis Coach Ryan Silverfield commented according to the school’s football website. “Whether it’s a big win that one big win can’t define our season and that one loss certainly can’t define our season.
“All our hopes, goals and dreams are still in front of us, right?” Silverfield remarked. “When we started the season the goal wasn’t to be 7-0 or 6-1. It was to win the conference championship and that’s still out there in front of us.
“We’ve just got to stay focused, dialed in and find ways to execute at a higher level. One loss will not define our season,” he emphasized. Maybe not. But two could.
PAT’S PICKS
USF over Memphis: This is a good South Florida football team. And it’s not slowing down for Memphis.
Miami over Stanford: This is a “beware” game. Beware of what Stanford did to FSU.
Florida, FSU and UCF off.
Last week: 3-2. For the season, 25-9, .735.
