Rookie Ty Gibbs Wins Xfinity Road Course Race at Daytona

AP Photo / John Raoux

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Ty Gibbs, grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs notched his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series by holding off Austin Cindric at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. The race was held on the road course there, and it was supposed to be a two man race between Cindric and road ace A.J. Allmendinger.  The 18-year-old Gibbs had something to say about that.

Gibbs is the sixth driver to win in their series debut., the first to do so before racing in Cup. He is the third youngest first-time series winner.

Gibbs was overwhelmed with emotion after the race.

“You know, I can’t thank everybody right now, Gibbs said. “This is like a dream come true to me. This is awesome, I can’t do burnouts, that’s one thing I cannot do at all. I just can’t thank everybody, this is just a dream come true to me. I really didn’t think I had it there. Kind of fought back and we won. Thank you to Monster Energy and everybody, I don’t even know what’s going on.”

The 18-year-old Gibbs led 14 of 56 laps in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Gibbs, the grandson of his Hall of Fame team owner, is an eight-time winner in the ARCA Menards Series, and Saturday marked his first NASCAR national-series start.

Cindric rallied from a crash at the end of Stage 1 to finish second, his No. 22 Team Penske Ford sitting 1.726 seconds behind at the checkered flag. Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones and Jeb Burton completed the top five in order.

Cindric and AJ Allmendinger traded the lead early but crashed together at the conclusion of Stage 1. Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing sustained the most damage and he lost several laps in finishing 35th in the 40-car field. Cindric drove through the contact, won Stage 1 and rallied to contend late despite the right-front damage.  Allmendinger finished 35th. He and Cindric made contact coming to the finish line for the end of Stage 1. Cindric closed through the final chicane and got under Allmendinger. They made contact and the contact knocked Allmendinger into the grass, which tore up the front of Allmendinger’s car. Cindric’s right front also was damaged in the incident.

“He drove me down to the grass,” Cindric said on his team’s radio. “I don’t like that. It’s Stage 1. I don’t want to do that.”

The race finished with two overtimes.  With cars running low on fuel, all of the leaders pitted for tires and fuel.  A crash in the infield caused the second overtime.  Gibbs drove immediately to the lead, and though Cindric was able to catch up, his damage from the incident with Allmendinger held him back just enough and Gibbs was able to cross the finish line first.

Unofficial Results: Super Start Batteries 188 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly, February 20, 2021, 3.61 Mile Road Course

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 15, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 56, , 1, 2, 14, 6, 50, Running
2) 2, Austin Cindric, No. 22 PPG Ford, 56, 1, 6, 3, 29, 1, 50, Running
3) 5, Daniel Hemric, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota, 56, , 3, 1, 2, , 42, Running
4) 39, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Barracuda Toyota, 56, , 7, , , , 37, Running
5) 3, Jeb Burton, No. 10 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, 56, , , 1, 2, , 32, Running
6) 4, Harrison Burton, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota, 56, 7, 2, 1, 3, , 44, Running
7) 35, Miguel Paludo, No. 8 Brandt Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 7, Brandon Brown, No. 68 Jabs Construction Chevrolet, 56, 6, , , , , 34, Running
9) 29, Justin Haley, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 56, , 4, , , , 35, Running
10) 18, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 All South Electric Chevrolet, 56, 4, 10, , , , 35, Running
11) 1, Brett Moffitt(i), No. 02 Quartz Hill Records Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 0, Running
12) 14, Landon Cassill, No. 4  Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 8, Myatt Snider, No. 2 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 56, 2, 8, , , , 36, Running
14) 13, Jesse Little, No. 78  Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 33, Michael Annett, No. 1 PFJ American Heart Association Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 11, Kyle Weatherman, No. 47 Picture Perfect Chevrolet, 56, 8, , , , , 24, Running
17) 22, Josh Williams, No. 92 Alloy Employer Services/General Formulations , 56, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 19, Kris Wright(i), No. 26 F.N.B. Corporation Toyota, 56, , , , , , 0, Running
19) 10, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Toyota, 56, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 9, Joe Graf Jr., No. 07 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 30, Gray Gaulding, No. 52 Panini America Chevrolet, 56, , , 1, 1, , 16, Running
22) 36, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Globocam/Prolon Controls Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 32, Colby Howard, No. 15 Project Hope Foundation Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 20, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Gilreath Farms Red Angus Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 38, Cody Ware, No. 17 Nurtec ODT Ford, 56, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 25, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet, 56, 10, 5, , , , 18, Running
27) 27, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMR Construction and Roofing Ford, 56, , , 1, 1, , 10, Running
28) 26, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/True Timber/BRCC Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Stephen Leicht, No. 61 Janiking Toyota, 56, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 37, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 0 Forever Lawn Chevrolet, 56, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 24, Andy Lally, No. 99 Energy Air Inc. Chevrolet, 55, 5, , , , , 12, Running
32) 31, Bayley Currey, No. 74 Covert Scouting Cameras Chevrolet, 55, 9, , , , , 7, Running
33) 23, Preston Pardus, No. 90 Chinchor Electric Inc. Chevrolet, 49, , 9, , , , 6, Transmission
34) 17, Timmy Hill, No. 66 Cable Enterprises Toyota, 46, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 6, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Ellsworth Advisors Chevrolet, 43, , , 1, 4, , 2, Running
36) 28, Jade Buford, No. 48 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Cooler Chevrolet, 38, , , , , , 1, Suspension
37) 12, Ryan Vargas #, No. 6 The Big Squeezy Chevrolet, 33, , , , , , 1, Running
38) 40, David Starr, No. 13 Whataburger Toyota, 20, , , , , , 1, Transmission
39) 16, Riley Herbst, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 15, 3, , , , , 9, Accident
40) 21, Natalie Decker, No. 23 Red Street Records Chevrolet, 3, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 2 Hrs, 35 Mins, 5 Secs.
Race Length: 56 Laps, 202.16 Miles
Average Speed: 78.213 MPH
Margin of Victory: 1.726 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 22, 2, 98, 51, 99, 68, 20, 47, 74, 7

Stage 2 Top 10: 54, 20, 18, 11, 7, 22, 19, 2, 90, 51

Comments: Ty Gibbs has won the Super Start Batteries 188 At Daytona Presented by O’Reilly at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, his first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: Nos. 18 (Multiple Inspection Failures), 9 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Caution Flags: 7 for 14 laps;
Laps: 5-6 (Possible Fluid On Track [0]);
12-13 (No. 6 Stopped At Pit Road Exit [0]);
17-18 (No. 22, 16, 98 Incident Frontstretch / Stage 1 Conclusion [9]);
32-34 (Stage 2 Conclusion [74]);
39-40 (No. 48 Stopped In Turn 5 [74]);
51-52 (Debris On Backstretch [9]);
54-54 (No. 61, 52, 92, 17, 2 Incident Turn 3 [74]).

Lead Changes: 11 among 8 drivers;
B. Moffitt(i) 0;
A. Cindric 1-10;
A. Allmendinger 11-14;
A. Cindric 15-17;
H. Burton 18-20;
T. Gibbs 21-32;
G. Gaulding 33;
D. Hemric 34-35;
A. Cindric 36-51;
R. Sieg 52;
J. Burton 53-54;
T. Gibbs 55-56.

Mobil 1 Driver of the Race:  Ty Gibbs, No. 54
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  Ty Gibbs, No. 54

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2021, Issue 2, Posted 8:55 PM, 02.20.2021