Joe Gibbs at Daytona in February 2015 Photo – Maddie Mejer/Getty Imagaes

 “We sucked.”

Those were the words Denny Hamlin used to explain his day at Phoenix International Raceway this past weekend where he and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates struggled immensely. Hamlin went on to say,,,

“All of our cars suck right now, there’s Kevin Harvick there’s the Hendrick cars, and the Penske cars and everybody else, we’re (Joe Gibbs Racing) everybody else right now.”

I’m not going to bore you with the details of numbers, comparing the Hendrick and Gibbs cars over the last two years, but I do want to give my insight into what is the problem.

Overall I do not think that this is necessarily a problem with Joe Gibbs Racing. What I feel is the issue here from a Joe Gibbs Racing standpoint is that the Hendrick Motorsports cars are that much better. You ask yourself then, why? Why are the guys from Hendrick Motorsports head and shoulders above JGR right now?

To answer that question you simply look at who you consider are the Hendrick Motorsports cars? Do you consider the four cars consisting of Kahne, Gordon, Johnson, and Earnhardt Jr. as the only Hendrick cars in the field? Because they are not.

The alliance not only formed with Stewart-Haas Racing, but the start of supplying engines to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014, has turned the four car stable into a ten car stable. Essentially you have the four guys at Hendrick and four guys at Stewart-Haas comparing setups and using each other as tools as well as getting engine info and input from Chip Ganassi Racing.

In my opinion, that is monopolizing NASCAR.

So what do you do to compete with what I call a “super team?” Form an alliance yourself. But JGR has failed to do that. The ideal partner would be Michael Waltrip Racing, another team who is struggling but is also a team who has also shown, in the past, the ability to win races.

Kyle Busch was not afraid to express his vocal displeasure during this past offseason in saying

“I think progress was being made and then all of a sudden it came to a halt, I feel like we are idiots by not continuing to work in the right direction in order to put our companies together and do the right things for Toyota and for all of us collectively, and it just makes me mad when they say that nothing has progressed.”

I agree 100%, and although this is old news I feel that an alliance is necessary, sooner than later with the results we have seen so far in 2015. The guys over at MWR are not running up to standard either. Both teams are getting beat bad week in and week out by the Hendrick Motorsports-Stewart-Haas Racing alliance, and the Team Penske Motorsports-Wood Brothers alliance. I’ve even been more impressed with Richard Childress Racing and their alliance with Furniture Row Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing, and Germain Racing this season.

JGR has the drivers, it has the team members, and it has an owner who has won championships. But how can one race team compete against two or three race teams? You can’t.

Changes need implementation and although I understand forming an alliance is a process, I say doing so sooner than later would be very beneficial. This is a race team that has all the capabilities, but is just a step behind because they are competing with “super teams.”

I say pull the trigger now. Stop losing ground.