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NASCAR XFINITY Series

Gibbs Responds to Martinsville Criticism, Prepares For Championship

(Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Twenty-year-old Ty Gibbs will race for a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship Saturday at Phoenix Raceway. But it comes after controversy last weekend at Martinsville.

After taking the white flag in NASCAR Overtime, Gibbs intentionally crashed teammate Brandon Jones to win the race, although Gibbs had already clinched a spot in the championship.

A win for Jones would’ve locked a second Joe Gibbs Racing entry into the Championship 4. Instead, Justin Allgaier secured the final spot for JR Motorsports.

Gibbs initially lacked remorse after his move, even comparing his situation to Jesus in a SiriusXM interview. After dwelling on the race for five days, Gibbs took back his words and apologized for the situation Thursday at Championship 4 Media Day.

“I truly do care about everybody else and my actions, put myself in position,” Gibbs said. “We’re all one big family and for me to kind of break that apart for my selfish actions, it really hurts me because I grew up there and it’s not cool.

“I definitely understood what was going on. I didn’t know exactly what points you know, were in play, but I knew he had to win and it’s hard going back and looking at it just because I did something wrong and dwelling on it really hurts and affects you know, me and my team and it’s just a hard situation.

“It comes down just caught in the moment and you know, selfish actions led to that. For me, this week I feel like I’ve learned a whole new perspective as a team. And you know, being I guess, somewhat looking at as the ownership side, it was completely ridiculous and unacceptable I did it. We could have had two JGR cars in the championship and now we only have one because of my actions.”

And there have been reprimands from above, too.

“Now there’s consequences, and so we’re trying to walk through those with him,” said Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing and Ty’s grandfather.”Being aware of the circumstances is one thing. But there’s other things there, too. It was something that was heat of the battle.”

But Martinsville is now behind him. Ty Gibbs has shifted his focus toward winning a championship, where he’s at a disadvantage. Three JRM cars — Noah Gragson, Josh Berry and Allgaier — comprise the rest of the Championship 4. JRM would’ve had just two entries advance had Gibbs not crashed his teammate.

(Photo: Kevin Ritchie | The Podium Finish)

“You have a great short track guy, Josh Berry, one of the baddest short track dudes in America,” Gibbs said. “We’re at kind of short track style track so I feel like it’s going to be a great race and Justin Allgaier has great experience. He’s very fast and he won here in the spring so I feel like it’s a lot of great talent coming into this race.”

Controversy aside, Gibbs has six wins this season with 15 top-five finishes and an average finish of 9.4. He won three of the first seven races, including Richmond with a last-lap bump-and-run of teammate John Hunter Nemechek.

In July, Gibbs outdueled Kyle Larson for a win at Road America before leading 54 laps and winning at Michigan. Entering Phoenix, Gibbs has finished fourth or better in the last four races.

To compete for the championship, Gibbs will have to shift gears and refresh for Saturday. He finished sixth at Phoenix in the spring and is confident about his chances.

“I put myself in this position and I’m the one that did this to myself,” Gibbs said. “I didn’t have to make this such a hard week and it really hurts me because it’s my family’s team and we’re all one big family like I said, and to hurt their feelings really affects me.

“I have a good amount of time out here to spend to make sure I’m looking at all the data I need to look at and all the film and watch all the things I need to look at to get better for this weekend. I think this is my seventh race here so I really enjoy Phoenix too. It’s one of those tracks that I really enjoy racing at.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship is scheduled for Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network. Daniel Hemric is the defending champion.

 

Nathan Solomon serves as the managing editor of The Podium Finish. He has been part of the team since 2021 and is accredited by the National Motorsports Press Association. Solomon is a senior in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. Contact him at NSolly02@Yahoo.com.

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