2015 Sprint Cup Series Preview: Joe Gibbs Racing Expanded to Four Team for New Season

By Joshua Lobdell, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, February 19, 2015

Joe Gibbs Racing has expanded to four team for the 2015 season. It is a move a long time in the making. And it comes at a curious time. While JGR did qualify all three of their teams in the 2014 Chase for the Championship those three teams only won two races during the 2014 NASCAR Spring Cup season. That was down significantly from the 12 races they won as group in 2013. The addition of Carl Edwards is certainly a boost but one has to wonder how the equipment, crews, and shop will react to the big step of adding another full time Racing team.

#11 Denny Hamlin- once again Denny will be sponsored by Fed Ex and their collection of different businesses. Dave Rogers moves over from the #18 team replacing Darian Grubb. Denny has won a race in each of the last 9 seasons, but has not won multiple races since he won five in 2013. Hamlin did make it all the way to the Championship round of last year's chase and as been very close to winning a championship in the past.

#18 Kyle Busch- Adam Stevens will take over crew chief duties on the #18 car, and the car will have a different look in 2015 as Crispy M&M's is the primary sponsor. Kyle seems to have lost faith in 2014 crew chief Dave Rogers but the two did combine for four race wins. However Kyle did not advance past the Contender round of the Chase.

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#19 Carl Edwards- for the first time in his NASCAR career Carl will not race for NASCAR legend Jack Roush. He will be paired with Darian Grubb and be sponsored by Arris in half of the races for 2015. The new team is locked into the Daytona 500 by speed which is important because they do not have Owner's points to fall back on for the first five races of 2015.

#20 Matt Kenseth- Jason Ratcliff returns to the #20 team and they will certainly be looking to regain their form from 2013 when Kenseth won 7 races. They were shut out of victory lane in 2014, but Kenseth did make it all the way to the Eliminator round of the chase. The always consistent Kenseth will be looking for a return to Victory Lane early and has already earned a victory in the non points race the Sprint Unlimited.