DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Now it’s official.
Three days before the NASCAR Xfinity season kicks off with the Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner. 300 at Daytona International Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing announced what had been widely anticipated—namely that Ty Gibbs will compete full-time in the No. 54 Toyota this year.
Not only will Gibbs be a formidable contender for the Xfinity Series title, he’ll also be a serious threat to win Saturday’s season opener (5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Chris Gayle returns as Gibbs’ crew chief. Together they won four times and posted nine top-five finishes in 18 Xfinity starts last year. As an 18-year-old, Gibbs won his debut race in the series on the Daytona International Speedway Road Course.
“I’m excited about the 2022 season, and it’s good to be back with Chris Gayle and most of the 54 guys,” said Gibbs, who also won the ARCA Menards Series championship last season. “We had a lot of success last year part-time, and we hope to build off that…
“I think our Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra will be good. I haven’t run a NASCAR Xfinity race on the Daytona oval, but I know we’ll have good equipment, and we’ll be ready to go.”
The road to the Xfinity title won’t be an easy one. Having switched to Kaulig Racing from JGR, Daniel Hemric is defending the championship last year, hoping to duplicate Tyler Reddick’s 2018-2019 back-to-back titles with two different organizations (JR Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing).
Five-time 2021 winner and Championship 4 contender AJ Allmendinger returns to Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger finished fifth in last year’s season opener on the 2.5-mile Daytona oval and backed that up with a runner-up result in the August race at the World Center of Racing.
“Our last finish at Daytona was almost perfectly executed at the finish line, and my teammates at Kaulig Racing always do a fantastic job of working together throughout the entire race,” Allmendinger said.
“Daytona is a special place for Matt Kaulig—it’s where Kaulig Racing got its first win, so hopefully we can make him proud this weekend.”
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
