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Ty Gibbs Takes Maiden Cup Win on Older Tires at Bristol

Ty Gibbs Takes Maiden Cup Win on Older Tires at Bristol
Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images

NASCAR

Ty Gibbs Wins Bristol for First Career NASCAR Cup Series Win

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Still riding the hottest streak of his young career, Bristol was a flawless Sunday for Ty Gibbs. Although Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney dominated most of the Food City 500, a timely caution allowed the No. 54 to capitalize. Opting to stay out on old tires, the Monster Energy Toyota held off Bristol’s dynamic duo for a breakthrough first Cup victory. Career win number one comes in start number 131 for the 23-year-old.

Kyle Larson asserted dominance early in the first stage, converting that into a Stage 1 win. The No. 5 Chevrolet remained perfect across both stages, trying to achieve a max-points Sunday.

Larson would be stalked down and passed, however, by a determined Ryan Blaney. After losing spots on pit road, a heated driver No. 12 found a few extra tenths and soon left Larson in the dust. Blaney and Larson would swap the lead a few times in the final Stage. The 12 was out front by a second with 25 laps left.

The ultimate race-winning call came under caution with 20 to go. Ty Gibbs was one of five drivers to stay out on old tires, but Tyler Reddick soon regained lost ground to second. Another restart for overtime pitted Gibbs’ worn rubber against Blaney, and the 54 was able to stay out front. In front of grandfather and team owner Joe Gibbs, Ty Gibbs earned the biggest victory of his life. The sprint to the finish saw Blaney get a monster run out of turn four too, just losing out by 0.055 seconds.

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Ty Gibbs said. “It’s awesome to be with great people. To be in this position is great. I’d love for my father to have seen this. I knew he knew it was going to happen and expected it as well.”

“It was great day for us. My boys didn’t give up. Pit crew is just amazing. This is our family. It’s been great. So it’s just such great deal. Very honored to be in this situation. Thank you for Monster Energy. Been with me my whole career. Mitch Covington, Dave Gowland, Elton, everybody a part of it. They’ve been with me since I was a kid. I really appreciate this.”

“Honestly, I didn’t really know or care if I was going to win or not. I thought the race was awesome. I thought we all put on the racing was great. Feel like it’s been us the whole year. I really appreciate always racing Ryan Blaney and Kyle too. Those guys always run me real well. We all run together and hard. Hopefully we put a great show on for the fans. Thank you for Team 54, everybody that’s a part of this whole deal. What a great day.”

Behind the top trio, Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five. The rest of the Bristol top 10 were: Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, and Carson Hocevar. Hear from a few of these drivers below.

Ty Gibbs will try and go back-to-back at another Toyota stronghold track – Kansas Speedway. The AdventHealth 400 goes green Sunday, April 19 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images

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