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Young Gibbs Growing Up Fast

| Senior Writer, RacinToday.com Wednesday, June 2 2021

NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs talks with driver/grandson Ty Gibbs at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

CONCORD, N.C. – Like many 18 year olds this time of year, Ty Gibbs is celebrating his high school graduation. However, unlike the majority of teenagers the North Carolina native already has a career that’s advancing at lightning speed.

In six NASCAR Xfinity Series races this year, Gibbs has finished outside the top five only once, shocking everyone with a victory in his series debut on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. On Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he collected his second Xfinity victory this season after recovering from a spin on the frontstretch at the conclusion of Stage 2 in the Alsco Uniforms 300. 

Then approximately two hours after celebrating in victory lane, Gibbs climbed into his ARCA car and dominated the General Tire 150, leading every lap, to claim his fourth victory in six races this year in the ARCA Series. It was the first time anyone had won two races on the same day in two different series at the 1.5-mile track since it opened in 1960. And the only thing the energetic teenager needed between the two events was two peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, some strawberries, watermelon, two Monster Energy drinks and a couple of waters.

“What a hell of a day!” Gibbs said with excitement in his voice. “I got to do two burnouts in one day and that was awesome!”

 In addition to Gibbs’ six victories in the two series previously mentioned, he also has recorded one win each in the ARCA Menards East and ARCA Menards West series this year. However, the teenager quickly admits he’s still learning.  

“I really like racing. I work pretty hard at it,” said Gibbs, who was on Charlotte’s pit road the day after his Saturday sweep so he could continue his racing lessons. “I’m 18 and I’m still trying to figure out how everything works.”

Gibbs notes that racing with the more experienced drivers in the Xfinity Series is beneficial to him.

“They really help me watching them and watching how they work the air and where they put their car,” Gibbs said. “The guys I’ve been behind teach me a lot.
“Side drafting is not too big of a deal. It doesn’t feel like it’s too hard to learn it. Once you feel it, you kind of get the hang of it. It’s like everything else, the more experience, the better you’re going to be.”
Xfinity Series champion Austin Cindric, who finished second in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300, noted everyone learns at a different pace, but Gibbs was “obviously doing exceptionally well.”
Gibbs’ accomplishment on Saturday made him the first driver to win an ARCA Menards Series race and a NASCAR national touring series event on the same day since Sam Mayer did it last year at Bristol. Mayer visited victory lane in ARCA and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at the half-mile trac

| Senior Writer, RacinToday.com Wednesday, June 2 2021
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