Ty Gibbs probably doesn’t want to change a thing about his current setup.
The No. 54 team is coming off of an impressive win at Iowa Speedway and is primed to enter the Chase as a true title contender. But while his car and operation are currently working to perfection, he joked with Dale Earnhardt Jr. that there’s one change he wouldn’t mind seeing NASCAR make in the near future.
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Speaking as a guest on the Dale Jr. Download, Gibbs argued that the digital mirrors used by drivers have gone too far.
“Honestly I think if you took the digital camera out of the car, it would be a mix of drivers that probably wouldn’t even be in the Cup Series anymore,” Gibbs said with a laugh. “I swear sometimes, if there was no digital cameras in here, some of these guys definitely would not be in Cup.”
He continued:
“We have the same mirror as like, a bus, like a transit bus. I was in a transit bus in L.A. and I was like, ‘Dude, I think that’s the same mirror I run in my Cup car.’ That was a fun fact. That was surprising.”
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When Dale pitched returning to the mirrors used in his days driving, Gibbs agreed.
“I would 100% be for that,” Gibbs said. “I think it would — obviously we’d want to have a car that races a little better in dirty air, but for the time being, I think if you took those out, I think it would make the racing a little better because you couldn’t just sit there and look at your iPad and go up and screw somebody on their line.”
Gibbs then explained that even when he has benefited from the use of his digital mirror, he’s realized that the system might be a bit too good.
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“A couple years ago my radio broke with like 25 laps to go on a road course, and I just didn’t have any communication the whole time and thank goodness it went green until the end after we pitted. I just spotted for myself in the mirror. I could see everything from the mirror.”
On the one hand, it’s understandable that drivers want as much information as possible while competing for a win in such stressful conditions. On the other, if you believe that mirror racing has gone too far, well, you have a friend in Gibbs.
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