Senior Seminar, Meet NASCAR!

In this blog, I will be focusing on the Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Team (JGRT). The team is comprised of the owner, Joe Gibbs, and drivers Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch.

I will try to apply the information I learn from the textbook and in-class discussion to developing crisis communication strategies for Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR Team . For example, Professor Laskin explained that crisis can be caused by an outside or inside error (deliberate or not). JGRT, for example, can potentially face crises from such inside causes as race team members switching to another owner, wrecking cars or blowing engines during practice or racing, or injuries to the drivers or team owner. External cases could be issues like other drivers accusing the team of doing something wrong with the mechanics of the car(s), NASCAR changing the rules and indirectly hurting the popularity of the sport, or NASCAR changing the team rules to prevent a smooth flow of operation for the team. Other competitors can always be considered an outside threat, too!

A recent example of an internal crisis was Denny Hamlin tearing his ACL last week while playing basketball. Thankfully, he will put off surgery until after the season and is planning on running a normal season. However, since he is getting championship nods for this year, it could have been catastrophic if he couldn't race! A post-injury interview shows that the incident actually motivated him instead

Another internal problem could be if Kyle Busch wants to run a full Nationwide Series schedule on top of the Sprint Cup schedule, which is what he races for JGRT. Doing both could be too much. Adding a full season instead of a limited season increases time away from the #18 car, as he would be doing more races outside of it.

An external problem could be NASCAR changing rules again. Many were critical of the "Lucky Dog" rule that came out 7 years ago and still debate if it should still be in effect. Anything that directly or indirectly decreases the popularity of NASCAR could be a potential problem for any team that races today.