Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, in 1992. JGR has won five Cup Series championships.

Cars Car No. 11 history

Multiple drivers (2004–2005) The No. 11 car (the number J. D. Gibbs wore playing football at College of William & Mary) began in 2004. Ricky Craven, recently released from PPI Motorsports finished 30th at Talladega with sponsorship from Old Spice, and Busch Series driver J. J. Yeley ran two races in the car with Vigoro/The Home Depot sponsorship.

The No. 11 car went full-time in 2005, with new sponsor FedEx coming on to fund the full season in a multi-year deal. Jason Leffler, who had driven for JGR in the Busch series, was signed to drive the No. 11 for the full season, while Dave Rogers was named the crew chief. The new team struggled early on in the season. Leffler missed the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, with FedEx Freight moving over to the 18 car that Bobby Labonte would drive to a second-place finish. Rogers was reassigned and replaced with veteran crew chief Mike Ford in June, then former Cup champion Terry Labonte was hired to run the road course at Sonoma, qualifying 8th and finishing a solid 12th. After 19 starts with a best finish of 12th and sitting 36th in points, Leffler was released from the ride. Terry Labonte ran the next three races, then ran the Fall Richmond race finishing 9th. J. J. Yeley ran 4 races with a best finish of 25th. In November, it was announced that Denny Hamlin would drive the car for the remainder of the season, then run for Rookie of the Year in 2006. Hamlin ran seven races, finished in the top 10 three times, and earned a pole at Phoenix International Raceway.

Denny Hamlin (2005–)

Hamlin was awarded the No. 11 FedEx Express full-time ride in 2006 in addition to his full-time Busch schedule in the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. Hamlin was part of a large and strong rookie class, including teammate J. J. Yeley, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., David Stremme, Brent Sherman, and Reed Sorenson. Hamlin opened the season by winning the Budweiser Shootout non-points race, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. on a green-white-checker restart. In June, Hamlin scored his first Cup Series victory at the difficult Pocono Raceway. Hamlin started on the pole, then battled back from a cut tire to take the victory. In his return to the track in July, Hamlin again won the pole, then proceeded to lead 151 of 200 laps en route to a second victory, the first rookie to sweep both Pocono races. Hamlin credited his prowess on the track to practicing on the racing simulator NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Hamlin's strong performance earned the rookie a berth in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, where he would finish 3rd in points. Until 2016, Hamlin was the only rookie to make the Chase.

In 2007, Hamlin won the first of two races at New Hampshire International Speedway 2007 and finished 12th in points. In 2008, Hamlin won the Gatorade Duel and the first race at Martinsville Speedway, and improved to eighth in points. He qualified for the Chase again in 2009 after winning the second race at Pocono Raceway and Richmond International Raceway. He ended the season with four victories after winning Martinsville and Homestead-Miami Speedway in the chase. 2010 was Hamlin and the 11 team's breakout year. They won at Martinsville and Denny followed the win by having knee surgery. After the surgery, the team won 4 of the next 10 races at Texas, Darlington, Pocono, and Michigan. The team made the chase after another win at Richmond. The team won races during the Chase at Martinsville and Texas and held the points lead going into the season finale. However, an early wreck would put them behind the competition, and Hamlin wound up finishing second to Jimmie Johnson during the 2010 chase. Hamlin later admitted to putting too much pressure on himself during the Chase, which mentally impacted him. As a result, Mike Ford took a "no compromise" attitude for 2011, hoping to right the ship. However, the team struggled throughout 2011, with multiple blown engines and a single win at Michigan to push the No. 11 into the Chase. Hamlin would finish 9th in the final standings. At season's end, Mike Ford was released as crew chief and was replaced by Tony Stewart's crew chief Darian Grubb.

Under Darian Grubb, the team started 2012 off in the best way possible by winning the second race of the season at Phoenix. That win was followed by another victory at Kansas six weeks later. The 11 team once again proved dominant on the short tracks pulling off a convincing win in the Bristol Night Race in August. The week after Bristol, the No. 11 FedEx team brought home another victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, making the No. 11 the car number with the most wins in NASCAR with 200 wins. Hamlin then won the Sylvania 300, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its 100th win.

Hamlin's 2013 season began with an on-and-off track feud with former teammate Joey Logano. Initially started on Twitter, the on track incidents began at Bristol in March, where Hamlin spun Logano in turns 1 and 2, leading Logano to confront Hamlin after the race. The rivalry continued into the next race at Auto Club Speedway, where the two fought for the lead in the closing laps. In the final corner, the two collided, allowing JGR teammate Kyle Busch to win the race, and sending Hamlin's 11 car into a non-SAFER barrier wall near pit road. This wreck would mark the beginning of a difficult season for Hamlin, as he suffered a lower back fracture and was forced to sit out several races. Veteran Mark Martin replaced Hamlin at one of Denny's better tracks, Martinsville Speedway, where he scored a top 10. Brian Vickers then drove the car for the next three races, scoring an 8th-place finish at Texas. Though Hamlin returned to the car at Talladega Superspeedway, he never returned to form during the year, with only 8 top 10s on the year. He did score a win at the season finale at Homestead.

After Jason Leffler's death in 2013, the 11 team paid tribute to their former driver by running a white FedEx scheme at Michigan similar to the one Leffler ran in 2005. At the 2014 Auto Club 400, Sam Hornish Jr. replaced Hamlin due to Hamlin having what was thought to be a sinus infection, but later revealed to be a piece of metal in his eye that impaired his vision. Hornish, who was actually on standby for teammate Matt Kenseth, finished a solid 17th in his return to Cup.

At the 2015 Food City 500, Erik Jones replaced Hamlin after the latter suffered neck spasms. Jones took the car to a 26th-place finish, but Hamlin started the race and was credited with the finish.

In 2016, Hamlin started his season out well, winning the 2016 Daytona 500 by beating out Martin Truex Jr. by 0.010 seconds, the closest finish in Daytona 500 history. The win was also the first for his rookie crew chief, Mike Wheeler. He would also win Watkins Glen and Richmond to finish 6th in the standings.

In 2017, Hamlin won at the first New Hampshire race, and Darlington and finished 6th in points for the second straight year.

Hamlin started the 2018 season with a third-place finish at the Daytona 500. However, for the first time in his career, he finished a season winless. Despite this, he stayed consistent enough to make the Playoffs. Hamlin was eliminated in the Round of 16 after the Charlotte Roval race and finished the season 11th in points.

Hamlin started the 2019 season with his second Daytona 500 win after surviving a mass pile-up with 10 laps to go in the race. The win was about a month after the passing of J. D. Gibbs. Hamlin celebrated by performing a slow lap of honor instead of a burnout to preserve the car. He scored his second win of the season at Texas. At Martinsville, Hamlin collided with Logano on turn four, squeezing Logano into the outside wall and causing him to lose a tire and spin out two laps later. Hamlin finished fourth while Logano salvaged an eighth-place finish. After the race, Hamlin and Logano discussed the incident before Logano slapped Hamlin's right shoulder, sparking a fight between the two. NASCAR suspended Dave Nichols Jr., the No. 22 team's tire technician, for one race for pulling Hamlin down to the ground during the altercation. Hamlin would make the Championship 4 for the first time since 2014 as well as earn his fourth pole at Homestead after qualifying got canceled due to rain, but finished 10th in the race and fourth in the final standings.

Hamlin started the 2020 season by winning the 2020 Daytona 500, becoming only the fourth driver to win back-to-back Daytona 500s after Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Sterling Marlin. Before the Las Vegas race, the team was docked 10 driver and owner points for an L1 level penalty during pre-race inspection. Following the 2020 Coca-Cola 600, crew chief Chris Gabehart, car chief Brandon Griffeth, and engineer Scott Simmons were suspended for four races after a tungsten ballast came loose and fell off the frame rail of the car during the start of the race. Hamlin once again made the Championship 4 and had a more competitive race for the championship than in the previous year, but still finished fourth in the race and final standings behind 3rd-place finisher Joey Logano, runner-up Brad Keselowski, and Champion Chase Elliott.

In 2021 Hamlin went winless during the regular season but stayed very consistent scoring 13 top fives and 17 top tens. He scored his first win of the season in the first playoff race at Darlington and then won again at Las Vegas. Hamlin made the final four for the third straight year but once again came up short finishing 3rd in points behind runner-up and teammate Martin Truex Jr and champion Kyle Larson.

Hamlin started the 2022 season with a 37th-place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Aside from a win at Richmond, he struggled with finishes outside the top 10 during the first 11 races. On May 3, Gabehart was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss at Dover. On May 29, Hamlin won the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 for his second win of the season. He won at Pocono, but was disqualified and the No. 11 team was served an L1 penalty after a post-race inspection revealed an alteration to the car's front fascia. It was revealed that the lower corners and wheel openings of the front fascia were wrapped with a layer of clear vinyl that was not removed prior to the application of the paint scheme wrap, resulting in a slight irregularity in the car's dimensions. Hamlin became the first NASCAR Cup Series winner to be disqualified since 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis was stripped of his win at Wilson Speedway for an oversized fuel tank. Hamlin was eliminated following the Round of 8 after finishing sixth at Martinsville.