Throughout the past couple of years there have been many young drivers to develop a name for themselves in NASCAR, but none of them have been as polarizing and successful as Ty Gibbs, grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs. Gibbs is only 19 years old and has already scored 7 NASCAR xFinity Series wins in 25 races. This is an unheard of win percentage for a driver in this series and the only driver to come close to that percentage would be Kyle Busch, a driver Gibbs has drawn many comparisons to during his rise through the sport.
In 2020 Gibbs was racing full time in the ARCA Menards Series where he got 5 wins and was always seen up front dominating races and was competing for the title at the end of the season. There was always the knock on his ARCA resume that he was by far the best car in a series where the competition is minimal and maybe 2-3 cars a week actually have race winning speed. This led to a lot of talk that he was only winning races due to his car and not due to any talent. This all changed during the 2021 Daytona Road Course xFinity Series race where Gibbs went through the grass in turn one during an overtime restart and took home the victory. From there it was all Gibbs all the time, well part time for the first season. After the first win Gibbs managed to get a few more races in the 54 car where he would get 3 more wins and eventually get a contract to run full time in 2022.
Picking up right where he left off Gibbs already has 3 wins in 7 races and has now scored 3 straight pole positions and he had made no friends along the way. Gibbs win at all costs mentality has been his personality since his ARCA days and it shows more the more he wins. Gibbs is willing to race anyone around him hard and does not seem to care about what happens as long as he crosses the line first at the end of the night. This quick rise to fame and early dominance is starting the conversation that the 19 year old should already be looking to get himself into a Gibbs Cup ride at the end of the season. I agree that Gibbs should take the jump now for many reasons.
With the new car there is a learning curve for every driver meaning that next year not everyone will have it figured out just yet and Gibbs will not be too far behind in experience. Gibbs is also very young and already finding success, his dominance will get old quickly and he will not be learning anything anymore like in ARCA. Racing around the best drivers in the sport will teach him a lot of things that he has yet to learn, like getting raced hard back and drivers not taking his aggression as well as the younger xFinity drivers do. He can also cement himself in a Gibbs ride early and make himself the new face of the team. It is no secret that the Gibbs camp, while dominant, is getting older and their young driver in Christopher Bell is not living up to the expectations that were set for him when he took the 20 car. This means that there will definitely be open seats with big shoes to fill within the coming seasons and who better to fill them than the prodigal son himself Ty Gibbs?
The Slow Restart 