Ty Gibbs during pre-race driver introductions for the NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 13, 2025. (Photo: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — In what has been his strongest showing in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season thus far, Ty Gibbs capped off the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway with a third-place result.
Gibbs started in sixth place but fell back outside the top 10 in the early portions of the opening stage after getting stuck in the outside lane before rallying back to score stage points. Stage 2 went much more smoothly for Gibbs, and he was able to add another four stage points to his total.
During the final stage, Gibbs’ No. 54 car came to life, driving into the top five before the final green flag pit stop cycle of the race. His team elected to short pit, coming down pit road on Lap 386, three laps after Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell implemented a similar strategy.
Once the green flag pit stop cycle was complete, Gibbs found himself in third place, which is where he would go on to finish the race behind Kyle Larson, who won dominantly, leading 411 of the 500 laps and the second-place finisher, Denny Hamlin.
“It was a good day,” Gibbs said about the third-place finish. “I was kind of managing the race and figuring out the way we needed to be. It was fun.”
Along with being a fun afternoon for Gibbs, the third-place run was an important result for him and the No. 54 team. It was exactly what they needed to get the season back on track after a brutal first six races of the season.
Ty Gibbs (No. 54) racing at Bristol Motor Speedway with AJ Allmendinger (No. 16) battling closely behind. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
After failing to score a single top 15 finish in the first six races of the season, Gibbs has weathered the storm over the last three weeks, recording 13th, ninth and now third place finishes at Martinsville Speedway, Darlington Raceway and today at Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively. The string of solid finishes also helped launch the third-year driver up to the 20th position in the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings, only 29 points behind the provisional playoff cutline, currently held by Kyle Busch.
Scoring back-to-back top 10s and three consecutive strong performances also puts some doubt to rest for Gibbs, who, on top of the slow start to the 2025 season, had a rough ending to the 2024 season, which seemed to carry over to the first six weeks of 2025. The consistency has helped Gibbs catch up to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates in the points standings as well, who are all currently 13th or higher heading into the off weekend.
Ty Gibbs racing during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he would go on to finish a season-best third place. (Photo: Holden Barnes | The Podium Finish)
En route to the third-place finish, Gibbs believed his team made some good changes to the car to propel him to his first top-five finish since the race at Kansas last September. The result also keeps the momentum flowing for Gibbs as the series heads into an off weekend before returning to action on Sunday, April 27, at Talladega Superspeedway for the Jack Links 500.
“I had a blast,” Gibbs said. “We’ve definitely made an improvement. Thank you to Monster Energy, SAIA and Toyota. It was fun.”
