BRISTOL, Tenn. – Ty Gibbs entered the Bass Pro Shops Night Race as the most recent NASCAR Cup Series winner at Bristol Motor Speedway, as he scored his first career Cup win there earlier this season. That was only one of, and arguably one of the most minor, storylines for his day in The Chase race at the 0.533-mile short track.
Since his triumph at Bristol, Kyle Busch has died. Gibbs was Busch’s successor at Joe Gibbs Racing after Busch departed JGR for Richard Childress Racing.
Moreover, Bristol was one of Busch’s best racetracks, where he had 23 wins across the three NASCAR national series, highlighted by two weekend sweeps in 2010 and 2017.
To honor the departed NASCAR great, with the support of the Busch family and Mars Inc., Ty Gibbs drove a special No. 54 Toyota at Bristol, using Busch’s famed No. 18 paint scheme with M&M’s adorning the car.
On Saturday night, Sept. 19, Gibbs nearly brought home the trophy to cap off an emotional day for the Busch family, featuring Kyle’s wife and children along with his brother Kurt Busch.
Pre-race, Samantha Busch spoke to the crowd, which quieted down as she talked, then roared with cheers afterward.
In the race itself, Gibbs started 13th after the starting lineup was set via the rule book because qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather.
On lap 18, using rally towels bearing Kyle Busch’s signature and denoting The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Foundation, fans waved them paying tribute to the star.
“Unfortunately not [able to see them from his racecar], but that’s something I’m going to look back at and check out so … really appreciate all the support,” Gibbs told media postrace. “It’s all for Samantha, Kyle, Brexton and Lennix, their whole family. So, it was such a cool experience tonight.”
When stage one ended on lap 125, Gibbs had steadily climbed to fifth place. He worked his way up to second at the end of stage two, with the USA Sports announcers noting that he seemed like a man on a mission to win.
Gibbs took the lead on lap 325, ahead of Ryan Blaney, who finished second in that spring Bristol race this year.
Gibbs led for 62 laps before a green-flag pit stop. Shortly thereafter, a caution flew, jumbling up the running order. Most of the field was trapped one lap down, but Gibbs received the lucky dog to get back on the lead lap, in third place.
Yet he restarted over two seconds behind leader Carson Hocevar. That didn’t faze him, especially after Hocevar wrecked Blaney as they ran for the lead.
Gibbs retook the lead on lap 435 and fended off his competition on cautions … until the final one on lap 491.
Gibbs and Hocevar raced each other hard for the lead, including making contact, and Joey Logano drove underneath both of them to steal the victory. Gibbs wound up with a fifth-place result.
“Just needed to stay green,” team owner and his grandfather Joe Gibbs told Ty post-race. “Didn’t need those restarts.”
“Yeah, you know, unfortunate we just lost that but held them off for like six restarts,” Ty Gibbs told the media. “Yeah, just missed there on that last [restart]. Just was a little too late getting down into turn 1 and yeah, it’s unfortunate. Kyle would’ve made it happen. So, yeah, cool to have the M&M’s colors this weekend and have everybody here from Mars. Everybody here, it’s just a special weekend. All for Samantha and her family; that’s all for them.
“Just needed to get down into [turns] 1 and 2 a little bit faster and get down quicker, stick to the bottom. Just tried to hold him off too long and missed it a little bit so unfortunate, but yeah.”
As postrace fireworks unfolded between Hocevar and Blaney, Gibbs wasn’t a completely innocent bystander.
Coincidentally, his thrown water bottle hit a Frontstretch camera.
“Yeah, Saturday night shows, how much can you get,” Gibbs said. “I think we need more Saturday night shows.”
Recapping the emotion surrounding the night, Gibbs remarked, “I had so much fun tonight and that was a blast, short-track racing with those guys and just unfortunate we lost it there. Keep getting better and working hard. Such a great track and that was probably one of the most fun races I’ve had in my lifetime. You know, to have Kyle and M&M’s on the car, that was just awesome.”
‘Awesome’ coming from a driver who has two Cup trophies, a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship with 12 wins, and other accomplishments. This one stands out though.
“Man, this one ranks up there for sure with one of the best,” he added. “This is the most fun I’ve definitely had in a racecar, so just hammering down, ripping laps off. It was just a blast.”
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
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