Ty Gibbs won the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday (Oct. 29) by wrecking Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones for the overtime victory during the final lap.
Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five. All four would agree Jones deserved to be right there with them in the running order instead of his unofficial 23rd-place result. No short track race is ever clean, but Saturday was a stark reminder of where some believe NASCAR could be heading without proper discipline.
The Winners
JR Motorsports now has three of its four drivers locked into the final round of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Gragson and Josh Berry clinched their spots with wins while Jones’ poor finish allowed Allgaier to make the cut on points. It’s important to note Jones will be suiting up for JRM next season, too – even more reason for all eyes to turn toward Phoenix Raceway.
Nicholas Sanchez and Blaine Perkins survived all the beating and banging that Martinsville had to offer and both earned the first top-1o finishes of their Xfinity careers as a reward. Sanchez brought the Big Machine Racing No. 48 Chevy home in seventh (in style, might I add, but more on that later), while Perkins was able to wheel his ride to 10th.
You want career-best #XfinitySeries finishes? @MartinsvilleSwy has got 'em.
👏👏👏@Nicksanchez080: 7th (first top 10)@BlainePerkins21: 10th (first top 10)@rajahcaruth_: 12th@DerekGriffith12: 15th pic.twitter.com/sTCpC0umb4
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) October 29, 2022
The Losers
Talk about a nightmare situation for Joe Gibbs Racing. Obviously, there is a level of understanding in letting Jones go to JRM, but with two weeks left in the season, the owner’s grandson goes and pulls this stunt.
There’s still a competition meeting to attend this week. And the No. 54 team now has to be expected to put together a championship-level performance after watching Gibbs pull his most bush-league move of the season? On the other side, I don’t know how any member of the No. 19 team is supposed to finish out this next week with dignity, much less class, and I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.
Sure, Ty Gibbs won the race, but he didn’t win the war. It will be a miracle if he cleanly makes it through the first stage at Phoenix. If Gibbs had any fans left, a good portion of them are probably gone now, too. And grandpa is in too tough of a situation to not hand him the keys to a Cup ride next year, but we’ll get to that.
Scheme of the Week
It has to be the Borchetta Bourbon-themed No. 48 BMR Chevy this week, and looking back, BMR has absolutely killed it in this piece of our column all season long.
The No. 48 #BorchettaBourbon Chevrolet is ready for practice and qualifying here at @MartinsvilleSwy
Tune in:
Practice – 4pm ET
Qualifying – 4:30pm ET
📺 @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/1je5Kw1lmg— Big Machine Racing (@bigmchnracing) October 28, 2022
All throughout the year, they’ve been able to use a lot of brown-and-gold mixtures in some of their schemes to bring out an old-time feel in their cars, and that’s exactly what I get with this one. I halfway expect Dick Trickle to step out, cigarette in mouth, and do a live drink-and-advertise for Borchetta. It only seems right.
The Playoff Pit
For the last time this season, we take a dip into the Playoff Pit.
The Championship 4 is all set for Phoenix, with Gragson, Berry, Gibbs and Allgaier making the cut. There were some late-race fireworks between regular season champion AJ Allmendinger and Allgaier, but after some veteran-like rubbing and racing, Allgaier emerged with the final spot.
Fuel for Thought
That was arguably the worst move seen all season, and we’ve all witnessed some pretty wild things in 2022.
The absolute worst part about it, though, is this sobering reality in terms of discipline: NASCAR probably won’t do anything. They will more than likely view it as racing for the win/position and will not intervene. If you don’t believe me, then believe NASCAR media veteran Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
No … that is racing for the win/position and NASCAR typically allows that type of contact on the national level. https://t.co/yKr3ssfyYo
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) October 29, 2022
With that being said, while there may not be any consequences from NASCAR, rest assured, the drivers will self-police this issue. When something like this intentional wreck happens, gaps that used to be opened are closed, and doors that used to be agape are slammed.
It won’t just be in the Xfinity Series, either. If Gibbs does take over the No. 18 car in the Cup Series next year, those drivers will remember his actions tonight just as much as Gragson or Allmendinger will. Gibbs is in for a rude awakening in the coming years, and who knows? Maybe that’s what he needs.
Where to Next?
The Xfinity Series is headed to the Arizona desert for the championship race at Phoenix on Saturday, Nov. 5, and this one is for all the marbles. The green flag drops at 6 p.m. ET and the race will be aired on USA Network, Motor Racing Network and SIRIUS XM NASCAR.
NASCAR RACE WEEKEND CENTRAL: MARTINSVILLE
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Just straight up wrecked a teammate, that was awful.
Hope someone takes the punk completely out in the first few laps in Phoenix. Next year is going to be fun watching grandpa and the punk whining all the time.
Haven’t seen anything that dirty since Montoya wrecked his teammate Scott Pruett
Ty has proven on more than one occasion he is willing to do anything (sucker punch a competitor on pit road) in his attempt to prove he is the right one to take over Kyle Busch’s place as the villain at JGR.
Ty “Bubba” Gibbs. Here is a perfect example of “White Privilage” Joe Gibbs Racing is little more than Pond Scum. What a stain on Coach Gibbs.
Strange how folks weren’t so outraged when that jerk Gragson pulled his outrageous and destructive move at the road course. Most of these punks were brought up in wealthy families. Money buys speed, how fast do you want to go?
You obviously weren’t reading Frontstretch, or any of the other racing sites after Road America. There was quite a bit of vitriol directed toward Gragson, by fans, the media and the drivers he wrecked.
While Gragson has acted like a jerk at times, he’s seemed to have cleaned up his act recently. Besides, Gibbs has been involved in more stupid incidents just this year in Xfinity, as Gragson has in his two years in truck, four in Xfinity and his handful of truck starts, combined!
Umm, they were outraged. Fans, the drivers, the media, NASCAR etc… it went on for weeks.
Gibbs did announce over the radio a few laps earlier he was going to dump Jones and tried several times before he actually did. So it was obviously premeditated. Not sure how that can be considered a move for the win. Plus, for the good of the company financially, I don’t see why JG would not get on the radio and tell his grandson to back off. That win cost them way more in the long run than the earnings from yesterday.
What, you all expected anything less? I wish just ONE reporter would ask Holy Joe if he thinks Jesus would approve of the way his Grandson acts and the way he treats other competitors.
Jesus would forgive him of course!
Little Ty is a pathetic little twerp. He is nowhere near mature enough to be where he is and his belief that he is hated just like Jesus makes me question his mental health. What a messed up little man. Sadly, NASCAR will tolerate him knocking Jones out of the playoffs but if Jones takes Jesus Jr out of the playoffs next week I’m sure there’ll be a big penalty. I’m just about done with it. Seriously considering skipping the rest of the season for any and all NASCAR events.
I dont understand how Bubba Wallace intentionally wrecked Larson (and never said he did) and is suspended 1 race. Ty wrecks his own teammate, and admits he did it. Punishment? Probably none. The kid gets away with everything.