Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra Preview — ToyotaCare 250 - Speedway Digest

No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra News and Notes

ALREADY PLAYOFF BOUND: By winning the Las Vegas and Atlanta NASCAR Xfinity Series races, Ty Gibbs has qualified for the Xfinity playoffs which will begin at Texas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
RICHMOND: In September 2021, Gibbs competed in his only NASCAR Xfinity race at Richmond. He started 15^th and finished seventh after leading 67 laps.
HIGH PERCENTAGE: Gibbs has competed in just 24 NASCAR Xfinity races, but has won six of them meaning his winning average is 25 percent.
THE CLOSER: Gibbs has only led 14 laps all season, but scored two wins. At Atlanta he led only one lap, but it was the most important one.
2021: Gibbs completed in only 18 Xfinity races in 2021, but won four races and finished 13^th 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 32 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 RICHMOND: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 113 total starts at Richmond in Xfinity competition with 10 wins, 29 top-five finishes, 58 top-10 finishes, eight poles and the team has led 2290 laps.
RACE INFO: The NASCAR Xfinity Series race is scheduled for 1:30 pm EDT on Saturday, April 2 and will be broadcast on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90 and MRN.

Ty Gibbs, Driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra

“We’re headed to track that I’ve been to before and I like going to Richmond. We had a good car last year in the Xfinity race and led laps and finished seventh. Richmond’s a fun short track and my crew chief, Chris Gayle has a lot of experience there. Hopefully, we’ll have a good Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra. It’s an important race to Toyota as well, so we’d love to do well there.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra

“It’s nice to be going to a track that Ty has been to before. We did a solid job last year at Richmond and led some laps and got a top 10. Hopefully we can improve on that this week. The Richmond race is important to Toyota so hopefully we’ll bring a good Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra and have a good run.”

Gibbs 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats