After a tough competition in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ty Gibbs walked away with the win. Gibbs struggled to take first position through the vast majority of the race. Miraculously, however, he finally captured the lead in the final lap of a second overtime following a big push from A.J. Allmendinger.
Finishing 0.178s over runner-up Austin Hill, Ty Gibbs earned the checkered flag in the NASCAR Nalley Cars 250. Upon crossing the finish line, Gibbs, of course, ripped a victory burnout before jumping and dancing in celebration. He was so excited to win, in fact, that he accidentally threw himself back first onto the ground from the window of his Toyota Supra.
54 for the #XfinitySeries win, but a 5.4 on the landing.@TyGibbs_ | @JoeGibbsRacing pic.twitter.com/uAfA6um7JP
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) March 20, 2022
When asked why he exhibited such an unusually high level of excitement, Ty Gibbs replied, “I don’t know! I think, first of all, I want to say all glory to God. I want to say thank you for him [letting] me to be able to get into these moments. Second of all, I want to say thank you to my team.”
Ty Gibbs Reflects on the Race and Celebrates His Win
After his initial statement, the No. 54 driver took a few moments to further express his disbelief, saying “what the heck” and “oh my gosh.” Once Gibbs got his thoughts together, he continued. The No. 54 driver said, “You know, I did not expect this at all. That was one of those [races] where I learned a big lesson: just never give up. And let’s go!”
With 10 laps to go, the red flag was dropped due to a wreck in the back of the pack involving top contenders such as Justin Allgaier, Trevor Bayne, Josh Berry, and Noah Gragson. This caused Gibbs and other drivers to sit in their cars and wait for what was “definitely a long time.”
Burn it down – @TyGibbs_ @SportClips | #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/VgOfFUYsO8
— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) March 20, 2022
Though the Xfinity Series race was an absolute nail-biter, the encouragement from his teammates carried Ty Gibbs through. While they waited, Gibbs’ teammates were in his headset telling him to never give up in an Xfinity Series race. And Gibbs’ persistence paid off, as he now gets to celebrate.
How is he celebrating? Well, unfortunately for his date, he made other plans. “I’ll tell my date I’ll miss her,” the champ said. “I’m missing the date – I’m going to party with the boys! Let’s go!”
