Bristol Podium Extends Recent Rebound For Ty Gibbs

Ty Gibbs (54) battles Ryan Blaney at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Raw talent is something that can’t be taught, but how to break out of a dry spell is something that’s learnable for a young athlete.

Burgeoning Joe Gibbs Racing star Ty Gibbs continued his recent rebound Sunday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway during the Food City 500 at The Last Great Colosseum.

Gibbs came home third, his best finish of the NASCAR Cup Series season, and ran his streak of finishes inside the top 10 to two in a row.

“It was a good day. I was kind of managing the race and figuring out the way we needed to be in order to perform. It was really fun. I had a blast,” said Gibbs. “We’ve definitely made an improvement from the beginning of the season. Thank you to Monster Energy, SAIA and Toyota. It was fun.”

Gibbs entered the weekend after finishing ninth at Darlington with something that finally went right in results the previous time out for the first time all season. In Saturday practice he was 19th, but he steadily improved by qualifying sixth to begin Sunday’s race.

He was a household name within the top 10 for the duration of the race and showed flashes of being a rival to eventual winner Kyle Larson. At times he would have to hold off a hard charging Carson Hocevar for third, then he would pressure second-place finisher Denny Hamlin for second.

Gibbs had top five speed all afternoon, but was just a tick off from race-winning pace.

The 22-year-old earned stage points in both stages, as he was ninth in the first segment and seventh in stage two, amassing six points in addition to his top-three result. Sunday was his first finish of third or better since Michigan Int’l Speedway last summer.

Additionally, he started the Bristol race in the highest position he’s been in since the non-points Cook Out Clash LCQ at North Carolina’s Bowman Gray Stadium, when he also rolled off third in February.

His average finish at Bristol has risen to 13th since 2022 in the Next-Gen era. Despite his struggles with superspeedway racing in the Cup Series, positive momentum could pay off to turn around a Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway average of 27th in five Next Gen starts.

First the Cup Series will take its week off before returning to action to close out the month of April. After two weeks of top 10s and a podium finish Sunday, a small break to fully reset for a 22-year-old driver will lead into the next steps toward winning contention.

Gibbs climbed six spots in the regular season standings at Bristol, from 26th to now 20th in points. He is now in striking range of the final playoff spot held by A.J. Allmendinger, who’s 16th overall and 27 points ahead of Gibbs.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes a week off for the Easter holiday and then heads to Talladega for the Jack Link’s 500. Broadcast coverage is slated for Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.