Joe Gibbs Racing taps Ty Gibbs for full-time Cup ride

Ty Gibbs waits on the qualifying grid at Phoenix Raceway

Christian Petersen | Getty Photographs

Joe Gibbs Racing introduced Tuesday that Xfinity Sequence winner Ty Gibbs will transfer to the NASCAR Cup Collection whole-time following time, taking the roster spot still left open by Kyle Busch and marking the future step in his fast ascent to stock-vehicle racing’s important leagues.

Gibbs is established to drive the No. 54 Toyota for the staff owned by his grandfather, Coach Joe Gibbs. The 20-yr-previous driver will convey the auto variety he campaigned in the NASCAR Xfinity Sequence with him, marking a departure from the No. 18 which is been with the JGR firm considering the fact that its Cup Collection debut in 1992. Even though Gibbs will be in the No. 54 vehicle, Joe Gibbs Racing intends to use the No. 18 in the Cup Collection in potential years.

Chris Gayle, who served as crew chief through Gibbs’ championship year, will shift with him to provide as crew main in the Cup Sequence.

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Gibbs has excelled at each and every stage of his speedy climb up the NASCAR ladder. He concluded the time as a seven-time winner this 12 months in the Xfinity Series, capping his 1st comprehensive period of Xfinity competitiveness with a title-clinching victory at Phoenix Raceway. That triumph was marked by tragedy with the demise of his father, Coy Gibbs, in the overnight hours just following his Phoenix win.

In elements of two Xfinity seasons, he’s currently won 11 moments, which includes prevailing in his sequence debut in 2021 at Daytona Global Speedway’s highway training course. But Gibbs also made an unplanned jump to the Cup Sequence this yr, filling in with 23XI Racing — a JGR affiliate — when former collection winner Kurt Busch was sidelined by a concussion soon after a crash during qualifying on July 23 at Pocono Raceway.

Gibbs was pressed into obligation for his Cup Collection debut the following day, and he filled in for Busch in 15 races the relaxation of the year. He withdrew from the Cup period finale soon after his father’s loss of life.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s large-profile emptiness on its 4-motor vehicle crew formally opened Sept. 13, when Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing declared they would be a part of forces, starting subsequent season. The shift finished a partnership that dated again to 2008, a extended-working union that manufactured two Cup Collection championships and 56 of Busch’s 60 profession wins.

The younger Gibbs’ rise to NASCAR’s prime level has been marked by success and a dab of controversy. Even as he just about right away rounded into a consistent challenger for Xfinity Sequence wins on a section-time program previous period, Gibbs cruised to a championship in the ARCA Menards Series, prevailing in 10 of the 20 races in 2021. He’s an 18-time winner on that circuit, and he also has many victories in each and every of the two ARCA regional tours.

Gibbs’ intense mother nature has helped him land in Victory Lane, but it is also ruffled some of his competition. He was assessed a behavioral penalty and fined $15,000 in April for building call with Sam Mayer’s vehicle on pit street soon after an Xfinity race at Martinsville Speedway. That disagreement led to fisticuffs in between the two. On the Cup Sequence facet, Gibbs also angrily bumped along with Ty Dillon’s car or truck on pit road all through a Sept. 25 race at Texas Motor Speedway, drawing scrutiny and a $75,000 high-quality for unsafe driving around race officials and pit-crew staff.

The controversy came to a head in the Xfinity Series’ penultimate race, when Gibbs bumped teammate Brandon Jones into a last-lap crash at Martinsville Speedway. The maneuver denied yet another JGR driver from generating the Championship 4 industry, and a repentant Gibbs apologized for the move.

Gibbs drove the No. 18 during his ARCA successes, traveling the car or truck variety that his grandfather made use of when he produced Joe Gibbs Racing as a single-car or truck outfit with Dale Jarrett as his driver 31 yrs in the past. As an Xfinity regular, nevertheless, he set up his possess identity with the No. 54.

The last time the No. 18 was not in normal rotation in the NASCAR Cup Collection was 1991. JGR drivers account for all but a single of the car or truck number’s 80 wins — Marvin Burke was the very first, winning in his only Cup look in 1951. Three of JGR’s five Cup Sequence championships have arrive with the No. 18 — Bobby Labonte’s 2000 title and the two crowns claimed by Kyle Busch (2015, 2019).

The No. 54 has not been employed total-time in the Cup Collection because 2003, when driver Todd Bodine paired with team proprietor Travis Carter. The No. 54 has received just 3 situations in NASCAR’s leading division, most recently in 1978 when Lennie Pond posted his only Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway.