Bucky Badger
Go Kyle Go
Mike from Richmond, Va.: Mr. Hammond, I was wondering about your comments during SPEED's Happy Hour show at Chicagoland regarding the meeting between Joe Gibbs and his drivers, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart. You went on about how there is only one hour of final practice and how that was not the right time to have a team meeting. I believe you said they need to be on the track and not in a meeting. Since Tony Stewart won the race, it would appear the few minutes they spent talking to Mr. Gibbs were well-spent after all. Are you going to be a man and say you were wrong on next week's telecast?
Jeff Hammond: The last time I looked, there were two drivers involved in the conversation. Tony Stewart wound up winning the race so you say that I was wrong. But what about Denny Hamlin? Denny didn't finish very well, did he? The last time I looked, it's a team sport: one appeared to benefit and one had a negative end to the weekend. How can you say that it absolutely was the right thing?
I stand by what I said. It was not the most appropriate time to have a team meeting. The end result makes it look like it was a stroke of genius. Did they need to have a meeting? Absolutely. If you talk with the people involved, it may not have run into Happy Hour if Joe Gibbs had gotten there when he anticipated being there. He didn't deliberately keep them out of practice. It does bring to the forefront the importance of having a meeting because the drivers couldn't resolve it between themselves. The coach had to come in there and have his say. That's what's so invaluable about a guy like Joe Gibbs. His son, J.D., does a tremendous job, but at the same time, Joe's the man.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7028904
Jeff Hammond: The last time I looked, there were two drivers involved in the conversation. Tony Stewart wound up winning the race so you say that I was wrong. But what about Denny Hamlin? Denny didn't finish very well, did he? The last time I looked, it's a team sport: one appeared to benefit and one had a negative end to the weekend. How can you say that it absolutely was the right thing?
I stand by what I said. It was not the most appropriate time to have a team meeting. The end result makes it look like it was a stroke of genius. Did they need to have a meeting? Absolutely. If you talk with the people involved, it may not have run into Happy Hour if Joe Gibbs had gotten there when he anticipated being there. He didn't deliberately keep them out of practice. It does bring to the forefront the importance of having a meeting because the drivers couldn't resolve it between themselves. The coach had to come in there and have his say. That's what's so invaluable about a guy like Joe Gibbs. His son, J.D., does a tremendous job, but at the same time, Joe's the man.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7028904
