Joe Gibbs’ message for grandson Ty after bitter end to dominant Bristol run

While all eyes were on the playoff drivers in Saturday’s elimination race, Ty Gibbs stole the show as he had the most dominant performance of his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.

Making his 116th career start and still searching for his first win, Gibbs led 201 of 500 laps, but an unforced error denied him a shot at the win. During a critical round of green-flag pit stops with less than 50 laps to go, he locked up and blew the entry to pit road, forcing him to go all the way around the track with a deflated right-front tire.

He never got back to the lead, finishing tenth. This is also the third time Ty has led triple-digit laps in a Bristol Cup race without going on to collect the checkered flag.

His team owner and grandfather, Joe Gibbs, got to celebrate anyway as Christopher Bell emerged victorious, but he was also thinking about his grandson and the No. 54 team after the race.

Showing patience

Throughout the night, the team was guiding Ty on the radio and encouraging him to not make any enemies as he eagerly used the bumper to get the lead on more than one occasion. The term ‘be smart’ was used countless times as the 22-year-old navigated a wild race. Maintaining patience is also something his grandfather has tried to tell him in recent weeks.

“Yeah, this sport is really hard,” said Joe Gibbs in the winner press conference. “I keep telling him [Ty], honestly, I use the word ‘patience,’ and two races ago we were talking after the race, and he said, Coach, will you quit using the word patience; I don’t want you to use it ever again. So patience is out the window. We’re trying to win here.

“I just think he knows this is what he’s wanted to do his entire life, and so he’s after it. I admire, like I said, our entire 54 team. To be truthful, they’re young, but the pit crew, everybody, they just keep fighting, so it’s really great.”

This year, Joe Gibbs Racing got three of their four cars into the playoffs, and impressively swept the Round of 16 with each driver collecting a win over the last three races. And then there’s Ty, who has 16 total top fives, 32 top tens, and has led over 800 laps in his young Cup career, but he remains winless. While their main focus is on the title, JGR continues to focus on getting the No. 54 to the front of the field where it belongs.

Gabehart trying to point the #54 in the right direction

“Yeah, I think obviously Chris [Gabehart] is our competition director, so really he’s trying to help all four cars. At one point we had three in the playoffs, and so our focus turned to the 54, trying to get that car in. So we put extra effort in that, including Chris’s effort. But now we kind of worked back away from that. We’ve got Tyler [Allen, #54 crew chief] back making the calls there.

“That’s kind of been a progress for us. We’ve added a lot to that team this year as we went. So it’s a big deal for us to have a couple of good weeks like we’ve had the last couple weeks.”

Gabehart has spent a lot of team working directly with the No. 54, as ‘Coach’ Gibbs noted. “The reality was he was in a really tough spot there on, on kind of duration of the overall run,” Gabehart told Motorsport.com after the race. “He got hung out for a few laps and his right front was starting to die and it’s very clear that if he got off the bottom, it would cheese grate him and he just couldn’t get down, and missed pit road. So it was just a really chaotic couple of laps that cost him a lot of time.

“It’s unfortunate because if it went green out, I think the 22 [Joey Logano] is going to win, and no one will know and I need to study the data but that’s what is so fun about that style of racing. It’s very different and there are so many things happening at once that it’s hard to know exactly how everything is going to play out.”

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images

And while there was plenty to be happy about on Saturday night with the raw speed Gibbs showcased and near-perfect execution on pit road, the result was still a bitter disappointment. 

“That was a really good race, Ty,” the team said over the radio during the cooldown lap. “I know it didn’t go our way, but you did a great job out there. Pit crew did excellent work. Lots to build on. Proud of you.”

Speaking more about working to improve the No. 54 program, ‘Coach’ Gibbs told the assembled media that “the 54 group has just really fought their heart out. It’s so tough, and this sport is really tough, so when you get off to a tough start like we did — but I admire the fact that they just keep fighting right now. I think we’re improving as we go.

“I think tonight is an example of that. Last week I thought we had a real solid week in St. Louis. Anyway, real progress with the 54. Still got work to do. But I admire that group. Sometimes you admire the people the most that are fighting when it’s really, really tough, and right now it’s been tough for the 54. The last two or three weeks have really been good for us.”