Hamlin: Gibbs teams '6 out of 10' on worry scale

Less than a month into the season Denny Hamlin admits questions about the performance of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars are legitimate.

"We haven't hit the emergency button by any means, but our concern level is like a six out of 10 right now," Hamlin said Wednesday at Martinsville Speedway where he was promoting the April 2 STP 500. "It's not invisible, it's not totally there in front of us, but we're going to go to work on it, and we're not going to stay down for long."

While Toyota teammate Martin Truex Jr. dominated on his way to victory last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Gibbs cars appeared to be fighting to find speed. Hamlin was the highest-finishing Gibbs driver in sixth. Matt Kenseth finished ninth. Granted, Kyle Busch was on his way to a top-five finish before contact with Joey Logano on the last lap.

It would have been a nice rebound to the weekend where not a single Gibbs car led a lap, and only two of the four (Kenseth and Busch) qualified in the top 10. In fact, Busch's 18 laps led in the season-opening Daytona 500 are the only laps the organization has accumulated this season.

Kenseth also leads the organization with two top-10 finishes. Hamlin has one. Busch and Rookie of the Year contender Daniel Suarez still have goose eggs in that category. And whereas the Gibbs cars are normally near the top of the practice charts and qualifying results, those have also just been decent.

"We're not just brushing it off and ignoring it, nor should we," Hamlin said. "I think that at this point of the season it is early, none of our cars have really been up front leading laps so far, but it typically takes us a little while to get going.

"We know how we plan the year. We know that we always want to excel later in the year, not at the beginning of the year, but there's more points at stake, so I think you have to be performing the entire year if you want to win a championship."

For those who might be quick to blame the slow start on the new 2018 Toyota Camry that was rolled out for this year, Hamlin said he doesn't think that's the issue. But admittedly, he's not in-depth with how much of it is aerodynamics or how much of it could be the chassis.

"Where I think we're struggling doesn't really relate to the body itself," Hamlin said. "But I think we need a true dosage of let's get five or six races in before we see truly where we stand because the first few racetracks are very, very different. Atlanta really doesn't equate to much. Vegas is a little bit more of a storyteller as far as speed is concerned."

Entering this weekend's Camping World 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Kenseth is the highest-sitting Gibbs car in points at 13th. Hamlin sits 15th with Busch 19th and Suarez 28th.

"I think that we'll have a better idea probably by the time we get to here at Martinsville of where we're at," Hamlin said. "But I know it's a new car for us, and it reacts differently, in traffic it's going to react differently.

"So, it'd be a lot to ask us to just come out firing out of the gates here (and) pick up right where we left off with a car that we had been developing for two years."