NASCAR
King of the Road Ty Gibbs Takes Indianapolis Xfinity Race
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Defending Xfinity Series Champion Ty Gibbs has found victory lane again. In his seventh start of 2023, the 20-year-old put on a clinic at Indianapolis. After AJ Allmendinger appeared to be the best car on track, the No. 19 pit crew got Gibbs out ahead late. From then, the Toyota drove off to a huge winning margin. Currently the last man in the Cup Series Playoffs, this win could be a huge confidence boost for Gibbs on Sunday.
Allmendinger and Gibbs were the front row starters, with the No. 10 taking off initially. After a brief lightning delay, Allmendinger was the first to switch back to dry tires, eventually taking Stage 1 and Stage 2.
The turning point of the race would be when the top two chose to pit on lap 44. The 19 crew just edged Gibbs back on track ahead of the 10, putting the ball in his court. Even with a restart the next lap, Allmendinger was no match for Gibbs. The No. 19 just kept driving further and further away from the field.
In the closing laps Sam Mayer would get by Allmendinger for the runner-up spot, but would be too far back of Gibbs. The 19 would take the checkers by nearly eight seconds over the 1. Taking his first win since the Xfinity Series Championship race in November, Gibbs was ecstatic to find victory lane again.
“Yeah definitely about time,” Gibbs said. “Really cool to get one here at the Brickyard, I grew up racing go karts right down the street in Newcastle. Really special win for me. Thank you to He Gets Us, all glory to Jesus Christ. What an awesome, great car, thank you Jason Ratcliff (crew chief), this is the man right here. Jason does such a great job, thank you. This is just so special to me.”
“I’ve raced go karts right down the street with a bunch of kids. Some of them are in IndyCar now, so it’s cool to have us all at this level. We got the Brickyard, let’s go!”
“Just go win,” Gibbs said when asked about what this win does for him in the Cup car.
Behind the front trio of Gibbs, Mayer and Allmendinger, the Indianapolis top-10 were Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed, Kaz Grala and Brett Moffitt.
After besting the field on Saturday, Ty Gibbs faces down the chance at his first weekend sweep. The No. 54 Toyota starts 10th in the Verizon 200.
Not much changed in terms of the Playoff cut line standings from Indianapolis. Thanks to finishing seventh and eighth, Kligerman and Creed are still separated by 17 points for the last Playoff berth. Four races remain in the Xfinity Series regular season, with the final four Playoff spots still up for grabs. Austin Hill now leads John Hunter Nemechek by 11 points for the regular season championship as well.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action from Watkins Glen. The Shriner Children’s 200 will go green next Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Watkins Glen will be Kyle Busch’s final Xfinity start of 2023; can he potentially go out a winner?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
