Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra Preview — Nalley Cars 250

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No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra News and Notes

  • ALREADY PLAYOFF BOUND: By winning the Las Vegas NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Ty Gibbs has qualified for the Xfinity playoffs which will begin at Texas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
  • SECOND: Ty Gibbs is second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings coming off one win (Las Vegas) and four top-15 finishes. 
  • ATLANTA: Gibbs has never competed on the 1.5-mile oval in any NASCAR sanctioned competition. He did test at Atlanta in the offseason.
  • 2021: Gibbs completed in only 18 Xfinity races in 2021, but won four races and finished 13th in the Xfinity Series final driver point standings. That earned him the Xfinity Rookie of the Year award.
  • WHAT A DEBUT: In Gibbs’ Xfinity Series debut in February 2021 at the Daytona Road Course, he led 14 of the 56 laps en route to his first career Xfinity Series win. Gibbs became the youngest driver to win a Xfinity road course race at 18 years, 4 months, 16 days. The Charlotte, N.C., native also became the second-youngest winner in Xfinity Series history after Joey Logano who won in June 2008 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta when he was 18 years and 21 days old.
  • IN GOOD COMPANY: Gibbs is the sixth driver to win in his Xfinity Series debut, joining Dale Earnhardt, Joe Ruttman, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte and Kurt Busch. Those five drivers had already driven in the NASCAR Cup Series before racing in the Xfinity Series.
  • ARCA CHAMPIONS: Gibbs became the 2021 ARCA Menard Series Champions on the strength of 10 wins, plus one win each in ARCA West and ARCA East.
  • ATOP THE PIT BOX: Veteran crew chief Chris Gayle will oversee the No. 54 team’s efforts in the 2022 season. Gale, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, has led his drivers to two NASCAR Cup Series victories and 31 Xfinity Series wins. The list of drivers Gayle has visited victory lane with includes Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish Jr., Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek.
  • JGR AT ATLANTA: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 57 total starts at Atlanta in Xfinity competition with four wins, 18 top-five finishes, 30 top-10 finishes, five poles and the team has led 914 laps.
  • RACE INFO: The Nalley Cars 250 is scheduled for 5 pm EDT on Saturday, March 19 and will be broadcast on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90 and PRN.

Ty Gibbs, Driver of the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra

“We rallied last week to finish sixth, which was good. I haven’t raced at Atlanta, but we tested there in the offseason, so we sort of have a baseline. But the track is so new, it will be an interesting race. Our Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra should be strong. We’ll see what we have.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra

“We had a solid west coast swing, with one win and two other top-15 finishes. But there is still a ton of work to do. We’re going to another track where Ty hasn’t raced at before, but thanks to the repave and reconfiguration it will be a new track to every driver. So that will put us even with the drivers that have raced there before. Plus, we tested there in the offseason, so that will help us too. No one really knows what to expect of Atlanta, so we’re ready to get down there with our Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra and see what we have.”

JGR PR

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