DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It’s been 21 years since Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated its only Daytona 500 victory.

Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have the team in good position to end the drought.

The JGR drivers swept the Daytona 500 qualifying races Thursday night. For Kenseth, it was redemption after a pair of wrecks during Speedweeks. Hamlin’s victory kept him undefeated on 2014.

Hamlin also won last Saturday’s exhibition Sprint Unlimited, and he goes into Sunday’s season-opening Daytona 500 trying to become the first driver in history to sweep Speedweeks.

“Once that snowball starts to roll, it’s hard to stop it, and right now we’re just on a heck of a run,” said Hamlin, who closed last year with a win in the season finale.

After going so many years without winning a second Daytona 500, team owner Joe Gibbs wasn’t looking ahead. His only win was with Dale Jarrett in 1993.

“We’ve come with great cars over the years. It shows you what a tough race this is, the 500,” he said. “This race is extremely, extremely hard to win. That probably says it the best. That says it the best, over 21 years, that’s a bunch.”

JGR had strong cars last season and seemed to be the team to beat during the race, but came up empty when Kenseth’s engine failed while leading. Minutes later, teammate Kyle Busch’s engine also failed. Toyota is still looking for its first win in the “Great American Race.”

“The last Daytona was so far away, we’ve moved well beyond that,” said Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson. “We’re certainly not sweating the issues we had last year.”

The qualifying races make for an emotional day as drivers race their way into the Daytona 500.