Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra Preview — Mahindra ROXOR 200

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No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra News and Notes

  • ALREADY PLAYOFF BOUND: By winning the Las Vegas, Atlanta and Richmond NASCAR Xfinity Series races, Ty Gibbs has qualified for the Xfinity playoffs which will begin at Texas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
  • DARLINGTON: Gibbs has competed in one NASCAR Xfinity race at Darlington in May 2021 when he started 29th and finished 18th.  
  • HIGH PERCENTAGE: Gibbs has competed in just 28 NASCAR Xfinity races, but has won seven of them meaning his winning average is 25 percent.
  • RETRO INTERSTATE BATTERIES CAR: Gibbs will drive the No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra that is a tribute to Bobby Labonte’s 2002 Interstate Batteries car. Gibbs was born on Oct. 4, 2002 and two days later Labonte finished 25th at Talladega Superspeedway. When Gibbs was just 11 days old, Labonte led 53 laps and finished second to Jamie McMurray at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
  • FEELING OLD: Chris Gayle, crew chief of the No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra, worked on the No. 18 Intestate Batteries car with Labonte as a race engineer in the second half of the 2004 NASCAR Cup season and all of the 2005 season. The front tire changer on Gibbs No. 54 car, Kyle Powers, also worked with Labonte as an over the wall pit crew member during the 2005 season.
  • NEW RECORD: Gibbs is the youngest driver ever to reach seven victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at age 19 years 5 months and 29 days. The previous record was held by Joey Logano.
  • 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 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 33 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 DARLINGTON: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 74 total starts at Darlington in Xfinity competition with 11 wins, 36 top-five finishes, 48 top-10 finishes, seven poles and the team has led 1303 laps.
  • RACE INFO: The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington is scheduled for 1:30 pm EDT on Saturday, May 7 and will be broadcast on FS1, SiriusXM Channel 90 and MRN.

Ty Gibbs, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra

“We had a good run at Dover and I’m looking forward to Darlington. It’s a tough track, but it is cool that we’ll have a retro Intestate Batteries scheme on our Toyota GR Supra. They are the founding sponsor of JGR and have a such a long history in the sport. The scheme is from 2002, which was the year I was born, so I don’t really remember it (laughs). But Bobby Labonte, Interstate Batteries and Norm (Miller, Chairman of Interstate) were so successful in the late 90’s and early 2000s and were hoping to have a good run and pay tribute to them.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra

“Darlington is a tough track and Ty only has competed in one race there, but we’ll bring a good Interstate Batteries Toyota GR Supra. Last week at Dover, we didn’t have a winning car, but Ty finished third and that’s what good drivers do. Third is way better than trying to force something and finishing 25th. It’s cool to have a retro Interstate Batteries car this week. Hopefully we can give them a good run.”

JGR PR

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