Getty Ty Gibbs before race at Texas.
Ty Gibbs had a relatively quiet rookie NASCAR Cup Series season in 2023. He let his racing do the talking, winning Rookie of the Year honors en route to earning 10 top-10 finishes, including four top-fives, and finishing 18th in the final points standings. This year, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has started fast with three top 10s (two top-fives) in the first four races.
Interestingly, it’s not just his on-track performance but his behavior that’s also getting attention early in the season. During the March 5 “Happy Hour” podcast, Kevin Harvick talked about it, specifically, an incident between the 21-year-old driver and his veteran JGR teammate at Las Vegas.
“He was frustrated with his teammate this weekend on the radio with Martin Truex,” Harvick pointed out. “And the way that they were jerking those cars around and you could visually see the frustration with the maneuvers that they were doing with the car and the radio backed that up.
“With Ty, he’s got the speed and I think if he can just stay off the radio, I think it would do him a lot of favors if he could just learn how to yell at himself. I think that would go a long ways with him because then he wouldn’t have to answer all the questions during the week about something that he said.”
Ty Gibbs Ignores Kevin Harvick’s Advice
During the March 10 race at Phoenix, Gibbs once again had a fast No. 54 car, starting on the outside of the front row, moving to the point on the first trip around the mile-long circuit, and leading the first 57 laps, before relinquishing the lead and finishing second to Tyler Reddick at the end of Stage 1. He stayed focused on the team radio during that opening stage, talking about the car and the adjustments he needed.
In Stage 2, action picked up on the track and resulted in a heated battle between the JGR car and reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney. Following contact, the Team Penske driver addressed the situation over the No. 12 radio.
“You can tell the 54 it’s because he f****** squeezed me up into the guy outside of me,” Blaney said. “Like, there was no room. You know, that’s why I’m pissed.”
Moments later, Gibbs’ spotter Tony Hirschman talked to his driver about the incident.
“That wasn’t on you. He got himself in a bad spot. You were the first one he could get to, so ignore it,” Hirschman instructed.
“Just tell him, if that happens, he’ll get the same payment,” Gibbs replied.
Instead of heeding Harvick’s words days earlier and his own spotter’s advice seconds before to ignore it, the 2022 Xfinity Series champion pushed the key and responded, albeit in a cryptic way, but one that clearly conveyed he had some sort of payback on his mind.
How Ty Gibbs Can Change the Narrative
Looking back at 2023, Ty Gibbs kept his nose clean for much of the season. No headlines for conflicts with other drivers. That changed toward the end of the year when he and two-time champion Joey Logano had a couple of run-ins.
The pair rekindled that rivalry at the season-opening exhibition Clash at the Coliseum to start 2024 when the Team Penske driver didn’t like the way Gibbs drove him out wide on a late restart and confronted his younger counterpart at his hauler after the race, later admitting he didn’t know what to do with him because he thought they had cleared the air and resolved their differences.
Now, in consecutive weeks, Gibbs has been in the headlines for keying up his radio and directing his frustration at two other champions.
During that same podcast episode, Harvick also admitted he believes the JGR driver will finally break through and make his first trip to Cup Series Victory Lane in 2024. That would definitely be the best thing for Gibbs because it would shift the narrative and everyone would focus on his on-track success, which has been impressive, and not what he has to say.
At least for a little while.