Joe Gibbs Racing has disastrous day at Texas Motor Speedway

If not for Denny Hamlin finishing runner-up at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, Joe Gibbs Racing would be heading back to North Carolina with nothing to show for their efforts this weekend in the Lone Star State. 

Hamlin, who finished second to race winner Chase Elliott in the Wurth 400, was the only JGR driver to finish in the top-22 on Sunday. 

All three of Hamlin's teammates in Chase Briscoe, Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell were also fast on Sunday afternoon, but all were later taken out of contention. 

What went wrong for JGR at Texas

Bell was leading right in front of Hamlin late in Stage 1 when Todd Gilliland spun right in front of them. Bell, taking evasive action, was barely clipped by Gilliland and sent spinning into the wall. 

Bell finished last (38th) and dropped to 13th in the Cup Series standings, just 56 points above the Chase cut line. 

Briscoe's No. 19 sustained damage that severely hurt the handling on his Toyota Camry. He finished 23rd, one lap down after running inside the top five early in the race. Briscoe is squarely on the Chase bubble in 16th, only seven points above Joey Logano in 17th after Sunday. 

Gibbs also ran inside the top 10 and top five early, and like Briscoe, finished top five in Stage 1. However, contact from a frustrated Ryan Preece sent Gibbs into the wall and relegated him to a 36th-place finish. He dropped to seventh in the standings. 

Overall, JGR's day at Texas was a miserable one, and if not for Hamlin, it could've been even worse.