LONG POND, Pa.: Mission accomplished for Ty Gibbs in his NASCAR Cup Series debut in Sunday’s M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for 23XI Racing.
After Kurt Busch was sidelined Sunday morning due to concussion protocol, Gibbs was given the nod to replace Busch as the driver of the No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry for the 160-lap race at one of NASCAR’s most demanding race tracks.
Gibbs easily conquered the goals set for himself and his team as he patiently and quietly worked his way through the field and through a round of green flag pit stops in Stage 3 found himself running a race-high fourth.
Following his pit stop, Gibbs challenged for a top-15 finish, but an ill-handling race car dropped him three positions in the running order to 18th at the checkered flag ahead of drivers Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (20th), Joey Logano (22nd), and his Xfinity Series rival Noah Gragson (26th) to name a few.
Following the post-race inspection, the first and second place cars of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified which bumped Gibb’s finishing position from 18th to 16th.
“First of all, I want to say thank you to God for giving me this opportunity,” Gibbs praised after the race. “Thank you to Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Everybody at 23XI. The most important thing right now is about Kurt’s health and hopefully, he can get back in this seat.
“He drives way better than me so he deserves this. He’s been awesome. He’s helped me out so much. I want to say thank you to him. We had a fast McDonald’s Camry TRD.
“I had a great time so Michael (Jordan), if you’re watching I want to say thank you. It’s a big pleasure to wear this on my shoulder and on my shoes. I had a great time and I learned a lot so it was awesome.”
Without a single lap in a Next-Gen car before climbing behind the wheel of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota, Gibbs said the biggest thing he learned was how to race the car in traffic.
“Just the dirty air and how bad that affects you,” explained Gibbs. “Just being able to make sure I was getting out far enough. I was a little bit tight all day, so just trying to get front turn and trying to get more center turn which would help me. It was a learning day.”
Despite the inexperience, Gibbs was able to check off his Cup Series debut in one piece with an updated appreciation for not only racing in at the sport’s pinnacle level but racing against some of the drivers he looked up to the most.
“I felt like I learned a lot,” sounded Gibbs. “I’m very thankful. It was close to almost a top 15. It was fun racing with Brad (Keselowski). Never thought I’d race with these guys. It was just cool being next to them on the track.
“So, to 10-year-old Ty (Gibbs) that means a lot. I don’t think I would ever expect that.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
