Joe Gibbs Racing’s Adam Stevens is still recovering from double knee surgery but returned to the track Sunday and finished fifth with Christopher Bell in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“It’s good to be back,” Stevens told RACER. “I didn’t dream I would ever miss a playoff race, so it’s good to be here.”
Steven was injured during the two weeks NASCAR went quiet for the Olympic break at the end of July and into early August. While spending time with his family, he admitted he tried to one-up his teenage son on the diving board and ruptured both patellar tendons at the same time. He spent the last four races working with the No. 20 team from the war room at the JGR shop.
“We were working hard from the war room and the shop all week [but] it’s just not the same,” Stevens said. “There is so much that you take in visually that you don’t have to work to take in, and at the shop you have to actively work. It feels like you’re doing twice as much to do the same job or probably not even as good a job.”
The team didn’t miss a beat regardless of where their crew chief was located. Bell finished sixth or better in three of the four races without Stevens on the pit box. He went from seventh to fourth in the overall championship standings to end the regular season and, with the bonus points accrued, was reseeded third with 32 playoff points.
“Well, you have to relinquish some control to the people at the track,” Stevens said of how things went for the team. “You can prep them for situations and make a lot of decisions, maybe under caution, but once the cars hit pit road, you’ve got to be quiet and let them handle it — especially if a stop doesn’t go right or if it’s a traffic situation on pit road. There’s just nothing you can do from the shop with a 12s delay in most of the tools.
“Plus, losing the internet connection … happens all the time, sadly. You’re just dead in the water, so I had a lot of faith in my guys, and they rose to the occasion as I knew they would. I’m happy we have that depth in our team.”
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Sunday, a fourth-place finish at Atlanta kept Bell and Stevens in the hunt to advance in the postseason. Bell was nervous about the first round starting with a superspeedway (Atlanta) and the expected tire variables at Watkins Glen and Bristol Motor Speedway.
However, the team began its postseason in its best position ever. Stevens feels much better about their postseason hopes beyond the first round after getting through Atlanta without incident.
“It’s just a bit of wild card round, and you don’t want to burn through your bonus points after the first race,” he said. “With the new tire at Watkins Glen — 4s of fall off in 20 laps — nobody knows what’s going to happen up there, which is great, but the chances of it not going your way are pretty good. Same thing with Bristol. If we have a race like we did in the spring where you can’t hardly run 40 or 50 laps before the rubber is gone, anything can happen there — of your doing, or someone in front of you.
“This is a crazy round and we saw a couple of playoff contenders not be able to have good days, so we’re very, very thankful and fortunate to have a solid day today.”
Bell goes to Watkins Glen with a 40-point advantage on the cutline. In understanding and counting the points, he believes the team needs to score in each race to be safe. Stevens hopes that Bell will be locked into the Round of 12 after next weekend’s event.
“There are only two more races and [there] can only be two more winners. There’s 16 of us, and all 16 of us can’t finish in the top 10,” Stevens said. “Let’s go have another solid weekend and then be able to be a little more aggressive, probably at Bristol.”