Nascar: Is Kyle Busch not running well because of Hamlins bum knee?

Maybe he is embarrassed the Joey is holding the banner at JGR.

I'm not sure Gibbs even has a leader. Its been strange the past few years. Tony was clearly the leader up until 2007. But '08 kinda made Kyle the leader. Then last year, once Kyle faded, Denny emerged as the leader. Now the 19 years old appears to be leading the team?

Yes, i think the knee could be at fault. Hamlin not being strong left a power vacuum that neither Joey or Kyle were prepared to take, and as a result, the entire organization is really looking for a foothold.

I wouldn't hit the panic button just yet. I remember at the start of the year Mike Joy said teams had kind of abandoned the wing because they knew that the spoiler was retuning, and he was very critical of that move because there were still 5 races left with the wing. Maybe he was in part referring to Gibbs. I think we'll know right after Texas what the rest of the season is going to be like. If the Gibbs guys are still weak at Texas, then its room to be worried for Kyle, Denny, and Joey fans.

There's a golden rule in racing, which is that the first guy you must beat is your teammate. If you want proof, look at Dale Jr. and Jeff Gordon, or just look at any Formula One team, especially the McLaren team of 2007. Kyle Busch won't run as well this year as he did last year (in the first half at least) because JGR has its championship hopes on Hamlin, so he gets the best equipment. Busch got it last year because he had dominated the regular season in 2008. So to answer your second question, I think that Hamlin is the leader of the team for now.

As for the ACL, I don't think that should be affecting his driving as much as it is. I think Denny's big issue is that his mind is stuck on it. He should have a good day tomorrow - Martinsville is typically one of his better tracks.

Actually all 3 have individual issues. Denny with the torn ACL, Joey is not as experienced and is still learning on the job every weekend, and Kyle just can't put a whole race together. Like Dale Jr.'s problem. They can get the setup perfect early in the race but as the race goes on and the track changes, their car goes to hell and don't contend for the win when it comes time for it.

Kyle Busch sucks anyways

Kyle hasn't been running all too well in Cup for a while now. As soon as he started putting too much effort into Nationwide & Truck races, his Cup performance began to suffer and is continuing to do so.

i think it's set ups

kyle can have a good car but

if things dont go his way hell hit the wall

logano is still learning

so i dont think hamlin is the leader

plus i dont have kyle listening to n e body

Liam M

Tony Stewart took himself out of the TOP spot at Gibbs. HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE A TOYOTA DRIVER. He expressed it the whole season, he stumbled and fell and really just did everything he could do to make the Toyota look bad. Even the one race where he was about to win in the Toyota, he took himself out with a "tire issue" that really looked fake as hell...

When you just don't want to be somewhere you just don't want to be there. I really think that Kyle has just given up on NASCAR all together. Just like many fans. We are tired of seeing NASCAR give everything to Chevy year after year. Say it ain't so, Chevy gets a torque engine package at the end of the 08 season with 10 races to go. Ironically the last 10 were torque tracks... That said, the next year Ford brings 3 packages to NASCAR and gets them all turned down...

The year that Hendrick lost his son, from that race fowards, Hendrick cars made up 40+ laps down to win races the remainder of that year and same the next year. All we heard for 2 years was, this is the first race after Hendricks sons death, Jimmy Johnson makes up 4 laps and wins the race, this is the second race after the sons death, Jimmy Johnson makes up 5 laps and wins the race. This is the third race after the fake sons death, Jimmy Johnson makes up 6 laps and wins the race.

50 laps left to race Jimmy Johnson 5 laps down, caution, Jimmy makes up a lap, restart, caution, Jimmy Johnson makes up 2 laps, restart, caution, Jimmy makes up the remainder of his laps down, restart caution, Jimmy is in the lead, restart caution, Jimmy comes in and takes on 4 new tires he couldn't get the last caution because he stayed out to make up his lap, restart, caution, Jimmy had to go pp, restart Jimmy wins. x40 races in the last 3 years...

Kyle is running just fine.

Toyota no longer has the horse power advantage, they had at one time..