Joe Gibbs says his son, organization will get through current situation
With his son and team president undergoing treatment for symptoms impacting areas of brain function, team owner Joe Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing addressed J.D. Gibbs' situation Sunday morning at Martinsville Speedway.
"J.D. at our team meeting earlier this week, he got up and basically he said, 'I know God has a plan and God puts us through things for a reason.' I think J.D. gains his strength from the fact that he has a personal relationship with the Lord and I have to tell you that he's my hero," said Gibbs. "I kind of watch him and I don't know if anybody has ever dealt with anything as courageous as J.D. does. He went through a situation with his son Taylor having leukemia at two and we fought through that for about three or four years."
Gibbs said his son has been dealing with this current situation for "about six months" and there is really little the doctors know at this point.
"J.D. has lived a very active lifestyle," he said. "We can't point to any one serious thing that happened to him, certainly any injury is a possibility that led us into some of the symptoms that he's experiencing now."
As a result of J.D.'s medical condition, he will be spending less time at the track on the weekends, but will continue to be an integral part of Joe Gibbs Racing on a day-to-day basis and have a "huge impact" on key decisions within the organization.
With a senior management team in place for nearly the entire 24-year history of the organization, Coach Gibbs believes "very few people have noticed anything or any difference" in how the team operates.
Gibbs' said his other son, Coy, who runs the organization's motorcross team, will also "have a huge impact" on anything the team does moving forward.
Finally, Gibbs thanked the NASCAR community for all the prayers and comments that have streamed in over the last week, and throughout the years the team has been a part of the sport.
"I have to tell you that as a group, from all the contact that we've had, the people praying for us and the people reaching out to us, whether it was through Taylor's situation or now through J.D.'s situation, it's been just unbelievable for us as a family," he said. "Certainly everybody in the community out there, we've got so many different things and people praying for us right now, it's real encouragement for us and I think that's one of the thrills that we love about what we do and of being a part of your family."
