By: Ashley McCubbin

A couple weeks ago, Denny Hamlin made the comment after winning at Kansas Speedway that he felt Joe Gibbs Racing has been off to a slow start.

“It’s not been a dream season by any means by JGR this year,” he said.

Those sentiments were echoed by Joe Gibbs Racing President Dave Alpern, who stated it’s been a slow start by both the organization’s and manufacture’s standards.

“Many organizations would feel lucky to have six wins halfway through the season, but coming off a 19 win season, short of winning the first five races, this was going to be a downer season; it just was,” he told POPULAR SPEED. “Interestingly, we won the first race, but we all know that’s not where our minds were given the circumstances with Ryan (Newman). It has been a little bit of a slow start by our standards for sure, and I don’t think I can point to one thing other than the sickle nature of sports.”

RELATED: Denny Hamlin – “We need a little bit of speed.”

The biggest damper thus far has been Kyle Busch not being able to reach victory lane, despite winning the championship and five races last season. However, Alpern says he’s not worried about the two-time Cup Series Champion as he feels he will eventually get to victory lane.

“I think if the wins were spread out amongst the four teams, then there wouldn’t be this impression that we’re off to a slow start,” Alpern added. “But for the guy who has won five times to say we’re off to a slow start, means he recognizes it.”

Thus far, the team has only amassed six wins in the 19 events this season, with Hamlin winning five of those while Martin Truex Jr. visited victory lane at Martinsville Speedway. In contrast, they won 19 of the 36 races last season, with 10 of those wins coming in the first 19 events. For 2018, it was nine victories, with six in the first half of the schedule.

Alpern attributes the lack of success to not having speed on a weekly basis like they did in 2019.

“We definitely, from what I’ve seen in the last few weeks, have gotten that back,” he commented. “I think all four of our cars have speed; it’s just now finishing the deal. We’ve had some issues on pit road with the 20; Erik (Jones) can’t catch a break on the track and off. He has speed. Kyle has been fast. If Kyle doesn’t hit the wall this week, he might’ve been the one that won the race. And Denny again, when things are going your way, they’re going your way.

“But yeah, I’d say we’re a tick off but we have some more speed and are feeling better about our playoff run.”

Even with everything not up to par, Alpern says there’s no extra concern during meetings or in discussions with employees – just everybody pushing as hard as they normally would.

“I can use the illustration that we finished first, second, and third during this dream season, and the meetings after finishing first, second and third, you would not know (that) and feel all four wrecked,” he commented. “Stressful, everyone pushing, how do we get faster, we messed up on pit road. I’m sitting there, I’m the glass half full guy and I’m like asking, ‘Did we finish first, second, and third? What’s going on in here?’ The tone is always like that here. It’s not like that cause we’re worried, but it’s always push, push, push.”

There’s also a focus on finding consistency ahead of the upcoming playoffs this year, like they had in 2019.

“Last year, every week – and look, it was awesome being inside Joe Gibbs Racing and I’m sure if you weren’t inside Joe Gibbs Racing or Toyota it was annoying,” he reflected. “But every week, it didn’t matter what race track it was, all four cars were fast every week. It hasn’t been that way. We’ve been streaky. Even Denny has had some – maybe it was Martinsville where we normally do really well, we were awful. Denny has had a couple of races, and got lapped somewhere – awful. Martin won one week and then wasn’t real good the next week early in the season.

“So I’d say consistency for us, and I feel of late, we’ve found some more speed and I feel like our guys are fast at every type of track. That’s the other thing. It’s not just about feeling fast at a mile-and-a-half. It’s not looking at the schedule an are you showing up every week and all four cars have a shot of win? That’s the expectation from Toyota, that’s the expectation from Coach. You should had every car expecting to win every week. There shouldn’t be a track they’re not.

“That’s the standard. I don’t think we were there at the beginning of the season, but we’re getting there and we have our speed. So I feel consistency for the playoffs will be really important.”