Sitting on back-to-back top-5 finishes and currently sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series Standings, Ty Gibbs looks to be a force to be reckoned with in 2024. A point that he made clear when he spoke with RACER Magazine ahead of the season. The 2023 rookie of the year outlined his goals and seems to be trending steadily toward them four races into the season. Written by Eric Johnson for the Winter 2024 issue is "Ty Break"
So, just where on the curve is 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year and ’22 NASCAR Xfinity Series champ Ty Gibbs as the 2024 Cup Series gets set for the season-opening Daytona 500 and the 35-race marathon that will follow?
Over to Gibbs’ Cup crew chief, Chris Gayle...
“I think the sky’s the limit with Ty,” says Gayle, who teamed with his young charge to post four top fives and six other top-10 finishes across the 2023 season. “For me, Ty can be super-good – as good as any of these guys that are at Joe Gibbs Racing now. I think it’s just a matter of him getting more Cup Series experience and learning.
“I feel like he’s going to improve at a rapid pace,” he adds. “What you want is the driver to have a ton of confidence and to want to win every race. We have that with Ty. He knows he can do it. I think he’ll start this year much more confidence than last year.”
Gibbs and Gayle might even have raced their way into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, if not for being caught up in a car-crushing wreck in the all-important regular season final round at Daytona International Spedway. And while frustrated with what might have been, Gibbs has now put full focus on all things 2024 Cup.
“The most important thing right now is, of course, preparing and getting ready for the season,” explains the 21-year-old driver who led 112 laps in the No. 54 Monster Energy JGR Toyota Camry in his rookie season. “I want to hit the ground running. The [pre-season, non-points] Clash is pretty important and it’s a race I definitely want to win. Then there’s the Daytona 500, as well. Of course, that’s a race I’d love to win, too. I’m really excited to just get going, to be honest with you.
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year Ty Gibbs is the center of attention during a media huddle at the awards banquet in Nashville, Tenn. Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
SUBSCRIBE TO RACER“This off-season has flown by really quickly and I want to get racing again. It’s like January is the longest month because you’re just preparing and getting excited to get going. But, yeah, my mindset is just to go out there and try and start winning from the start.”
During the off-season, Gibbs was refreshingly honest that he was by no means satisfied with his Cup Series run last season. That being said, the grandson of JGR owner Joe Gibbs doesn’t feel like he wants to change a whole lot of things heading into the 2024 campaign.
“I’m looking at 2024 much as I was last year,” he says. “I’m just going to go after it and try and win as many races as I can and a championship. I don’t think I’d be competing if it was any other way. And I want to maximize my experience from last year and all that. It’s real important to get going and have a great year.”
To Ty Gibbs’ way of seeing things for the approaching Cup campaign, you go for the win every weekend and everything else will take care of itself. Then again, there’s a couple dozen other drivers who’d love to roll into Victory Lane on any given Sunday, all most probably with a similar mindset.
“It’s definitely a selfish sport, for sure,” reasons Gibbs. “For me, I’ve grown up around competition, and winning is the only way. Yes, winning and finishing and doing the best you can and working as hard as you can is the only way. You know what you’re aiming for and you just have to do everything you can to win the war. You’ve got to fight every day.”
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In what will be his second full season at NASCAR’s premier level, Gibbs has made it a point to focus on his destination – wins and, ultimately, championships – but still enjoy the journey along the way.
“Being able to enjoy the journey I’m on right now is great,” he says. “This is a very rare experience for someone like me to get to do this stuff, so I’m enjoying every moment and maximizing the experiences. That’s really important, right? Because if I’m not enjoying it, I shouldn’t be doing it.”
But enjoying the journey doesn’t come at the expense of absolute focus and effort amid the intensity of each Cup Series weekend, where every lap and every moment has to count.
“It’s definitely a lot to take in,” says Gibbs. “We don’t have that much practice. You really have to take in a lot in 20 minutes to get ready for qualifying and then you have to race the next day, so it’s really important for your team to bring the right setup and you to get the most out of it, because you don’t have that much time to change it.
“It’s really important for you to learn as much as you can within those 20 minutes of practice, but that’s what I train for and study for. It’s all part of it. You never stop learning. I don’t think you can.”
Focusing in, getting the most from every precious minute, is part and parcel of a mindset that, for Gibbs, begins and ends with an overwhelming desire to win.
“I want to win in everything I do,” he says. “If it’s something on the track or something off the track, I want to win. That’s just the way I was raised. It’s the way my family raised me and I don’t really see any other way. I think that’s the right way. I don’t really care about the other drivers; I only care about myself and my team, I guess you could say.”
Ty Gibbs with crew chief Chris Gayle. The duo have proved an effective pairing in their three seasons together. Photo: Matthew T. Thacker/Motorsport Images
At 20 years of age, Gibbs was the youngest full-time driver competing in the 2023 Cup Series. With the age span between the youngest and oldest drivers at the Cup level sitting at about 20 years, Gibbs is proud of his brutal youth, but doesn’t see age as anything of a factor – for him or the competition.
“It’s definitely a transitioning period in the sport, for sure, with a lot of young guys coming in,” he muses. “But there are a lot of older guys that have been around for a long time and are still right there. It’s all pretty cool, but I guess I race them all the same way. As I say, I just care about winning races and championships and doing the best that I can.”
One thing worth noting is Gibbs’ ability on road courses. Two of his top fives from his Cup rookie season came turning left and right, and he’s a four-time road-course winner in the Xfinity Series, including a win on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course last year.
“Yeah, with road courses I just think they’re a lot different and I really enjoy them,” he says.
In which case, does he fancy trying something beyond the Cup Series in the future? Something more road course-centric, perhaps?
“Yeah, for sure I’m interested in trying Formula 1 in the future,” says Gibbs. “Maybe I’ll be over there one day. Of course, my priority is having a strong Cup career, but wherever God takes me, I’m going.
“But right now, I’m in my dream job, I’m getting to do this every day, and it’s really important for me to enjoy the experience and not take it for granted. Maybe I’ll be over there in F1 one day. However, the next stop is the Busch Clash and after that I’m very excited for the Daytona 500. Those are what I’m thinking of and focused on right now, and I love it.”
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