(Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
LONG POND, Pa. — Ty Gibbs finished fifth at Pocono Raceway in a moment that came full circle from last year.
In 2022, after Kurt Busch suffered a severe concussion in a qualifying crash at Pocono, Denny Hamlin tabbed Gibbs to fill in indefinitely for the No. 45 23XI Racing team. He had no time to learn the Next Gen car, and on moment’s notice, Gibbs finished 16th in his highly anticipated debut.
Exactly a year after Busch’s injury, Gibbs drove to his best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series — fifth — in his No. 54 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Gibbs deemed Sunday as one of his most complete races. Still, he remained critical of himself, citing Dover as another race that could’ve been a strong finish.
“I feel like it was really solid. I think Dover would have probably been a little better, but we had to fuel issues,” Gibbs said. “I think we are really fast every weekend, we just don’t finish races as good.
“Definitely a lot more different, for sure. I’m in my own seat this year, so it’s nice and it’s definitely changed. Just more experience … it’s pretty cool, for sure. It’d be better to win, though.”
Gibbs qualified 11th and essentially ran with the leaders the entire race. He short-pitted the 30-lap Stage 1 and split Stage 2 into two, pitting on Lap 81 and again at the Lap 95 stage break.
After a caution involving Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick on Lap 107, many drivers elected to stay out and pit shortly into the green flag cycle. Gibbs was one of those; on Lap 122, crew chief Chris Gayle called him down pit road for the final time for service. Those who didn’t pit then mainly pitted on Lap 143 under yellow.
But after two late restarts — one which included contact between leaders Hamlin and Kyle Larson — Gibbs got a great launch with three laps to go to beat teammate Christopher Bell back to the line for his maiden Cup top five.
(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
“Definitely had a great strategy today,” Gibbs said. “My crew chief did a great job. I felt like we kept good track position the whole time, just need to do a better job on my part and maybe we can be contending for wins. I feel like we’re just really solid, just got to do a better job there. Really happy with my team’s efforts and good day.”
Gibbs recorded his sixth top 10 of the season and his second in the last four races. He finished ninth at the Chicago Street Course and had a streak of four consecutive top 10s with his best finish of ninth three times between Phoenix Raceway and Richmond Raceway in the spring. Through 21 races, Gibbs has an average finish of 18.7 and an average running positon of 16.7, which puts him 16th among the 32 full-time drivers.
Gibbs, however, remains on the outside looking in with points. He’s 19th, 28 points below Michael McDowell on the playoff cutline.
Regardless, Gibbs’ grandfather and owner, Joe Gibbs, is satisfied with the progress that he’s seen out of the 20-year-old.
“This is all Ty has ever wanted to do from the time he was two,” Joe Gibbs said. “This is what he’s wanted to do. He knows that you got to handle things the right way and race your way up. You can’t talk or buy your way up. He’s totally fixed on doing this.
“We’re proud of him. We think he’s made good progress. We got a real good team around him, Chris Gayle is just awesome. I think we got a good team there.
“I know it’s fun being a granddad to watch him. I wish Coy was here. Coy kind of orchestrated his whole racing career from the time he was in go-karts all the way up. Coy was the one that directed things. We miss him terribly.”
