Bristol, Tennessee: For how good Ty Gibbs has been at Bristol it wasn’t a shock to see him pull it off.

Gibbs had been clearly on an upward trajectory with finishes of 4, 4, 5, 6, 4 in the previous 5 races before this past Sunday’s race.

People have long been critical of Gibbs because he drives for Joe Gibbs Racing and his family ties to the team. But Sunday showed why he was at one point such an exciting prospect.

He stayed in the battle throughout the day and capitalized on track position and had to hold off some decorated champions in Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson.

Larson was dominate leading well over 200 laps but the 5 team seemed to struggle in Stage 3 to keep up with the track.

Blaney had a very fast Ford but his pit crew once again kept getting in the way. Averaging a loss of 5 spots every time the team made a stop. On the final stop Blaney and Crew Chief Jonathan Hasselar elected for 4 tires with others staying on track and Larson taking 2.

Gibbs got a great jump and seemed to be in control until Kyle Busch decided to pay Riley Herbst back with 2 to go. That set up a final restart and the young Gibbs never wavered.

The Gibbs family has made a lot of NASCAR history but in that time it has also has dealt with various tragedies.

JD Gibbs was instrumental in the Racing Operation and actually helped find Denny Hamlin. He stayed with the team until his death in 2019 from a brain tumor.

Coy Gibbs, father of Ty, became the 2nd in command and was seemingly taking on the role well. Unfortunately when Ty won the 2022 Xfinity Championship Coy went to sleep and suddenly passed that night.

It has been trying times for the team but they havent stopped winning even in wake of tragedy. It is a testament to Coach Joe Gibbs and his will to win at the highest level.

Whats Ahead

The NASCAR circuit carries onto Kansas where we once again will be tackling a 1.5 mile circuit. The track has been producing some of the best racing so we will see if that trend continues.

Chase Elliott was the most recent winner in the fall of 2025. We will see what the fast track has in store next week but should be a good test of Chevrolet new body as well.