NASCAR at Phoenix: Ty Gibbs May Not Be Ready for Cup Series

Until Ross Chastain made his incredible move in the final lap of the Cup race at Martinsville last Sunday, the biggest take away from that whole weekend was the move that Gibbs made in the Xfinity race. On the final lap, the 20-year old punted his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones from the lead, eliminating him from a spot in the championship race.

The move didn’t sit well with anyone, except for Ty himself. While he acknowledged after the race that he made a mistake, you certainly wouldn’t have known it by the way he celebrated. After several minutes of non-stop burnouts, egging on the crowd that was furiously booing him, and never directly apologizing to Jones or his fellow team for what he did, Gibbs was all smiles in victory lane.

While it has not been announced yet, all expectations are that Gibbs will take over the No. 18 Toyota next season for his grandfather’s team. That seat, being vacated by Kyle Busch, will be Ty’s full-time ride in 2023 and beyond.

Ty has run 15 Cup races this season for 23XI Racing, filling in for the injured Kurt Busch, who is retiring from full-time competition after his latest concussion. Gibbs has won 10 of his 50 Xfinity Series races, but life in the big leagues is much different. In his 15 Cup starts this year, a 10th place finish at Michigan is his only top-12 result. He has led just two total laps and nearly had a disastrous situation play out at Texas.

NASCAR fined Gibbs $75,000 and docked him 25 points for door-slamming Ty Dillon on pit road during the race. The move nearly forced Dillon into several crew members and officials. It was just another reminder of how immature the young racer is. This latest incident at Martinsville finally caught the attention of his grandfather.

The team owner addressed the situation earlier this week, and said that they are dealing with the aftermath of the situation. "We’re trying to work through every single part of that. We’re still going through it, because it isn’t easy. We want to go about this the right way. All of us certainly wish that it had never happened."

Ty will be in the Cup race again on Sunday but his main focus is Saturday, as he is one of the four drivers going for the Xfinity championship. He will be going up against Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, and Justin Allgaier. Those three are all JR Motorsports drivers, which is where Jones is heading next season. Needless to say, Gibbs won't have many friends on the race track.

There is always a young, hotshot driver coming up through the JGR stable. From Joey Logano and Erik Jones to Christopher Bell and now Ty Gibbs, the organization definitely knows where to find talent. Because of the family ties, this one is a little bit different. It will be up to Joe to find a way to make sure his grandson is ready to take this next step.