AUSTIN, Texas: Ty Gibbs once again had a fast car in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas; unfortunately for the sophomore driver – it wasn’t quite fast enough.
On a recent tear in the NASCAR Cup Series, with four straight top-10 finishes dating back to the second race of the season at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, once again found himself in the hunt for his first career Cup Series victory but ended up third at the checkered flag in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.
Starting the race from the outside pole, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was able to hover inside the top five throughout most of the race and subsequently made the most of their green flag pit stops.
During Stage 3, Gibbs was able to take control of the race for one lap on Lap 45 and quickly hustled back inside the top five.
Despite his best effort to try and chase pole sitter William Byron down for the win, Gibbs found himself attempting to play defense against his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell – who was turning quicker laps than Gibbs in the waning laps of the race.
Bell was able to maneuver past Gibbs with under three laps to go with Gibbs setting his own pace over the final two laps of the race to finish behind Byron and Bell to match his season-best effort of the year and collect his third top-five run in the opening six races of 2024.
“Yeah, we were just a little too loose in the right-handed corner,” said Gibbs. “I just wish we were a little tighter, but we did a really good job today.
“My team did a great job. All props to them. Thank you to Monster Energy, Interstate Batteries. It was a good day for us. Good points today. We’ll just keep working hard.”
When asked if there was anything more that he could have done to finish higher, Gibbs replied, “I don’t think so. He’s (Christopher Bell) my teammate, and he has new tires on and caught me from like a whole straightaway back. I feel like if I raced him that hard, it would have been kind of mean.
“I tried to let him by when he got to me, and it was just what it was. We were too loose there. This Monster Energy team is all good and we will keep digging.”
Heading to Richmond (Va.) Raceway next weekend for a Sunday night race on Easter, Gibbs sits second in the Cup Series standings, five points behind Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
