Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra Preview Food City 300

No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra News and Notes

• ALREADY PLAYOFF BOUND: By winning the Las Vegas, Atlanta, Richmond, Road America and Michigan NASCAR Xfinity Series races, Ty Gibbs has qualified for the Xfinity playoffs which will begin at Texas Motor Speedway on Sept. 24.
• BRISTOL: Gibbs has only one NASCAR Xfinity start at Bristol when he started third and finished 11^th in September 2021. He has started two ARCA races at the .533-mile oval with two poles and a win in September 2021 and a second place in September 2020.
• ONE OF THIRTY-SEVEN: Gibbs made his first career NASCAR Cup Series start last month at Pocono Raceway for 23XI Racing. Gibbs is the 37^th driver younger than 20-years old to make a Cup Series start. Gibbs started at the rear of the field, but completed all 160 laps and finished an impressive 16^th. He has competed in five Cup races with a best finish of 10^th at Michigan International Speedway.
• NEW RECORD: Gibbs is the youngest driver ever to reach nine victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at age 19 years 10 months and two days old. The previous record was held by Joey Logano.
• 2021: Gibbs completed in only 18 Xfinity races in 2021, but won four races and finished 13^th 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 35 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 BRISTOL: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 109 total starts at Bristol in Xfinity competition with 13 wins, 36 top-five and 55 top-10 finishes and the team has led 3,340 laps.
• RACE INFO: The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol is scheduled for 7:30 pm EDT on Saturday, September 16 and will be broadcast on USA, SiriusXM Channel 90 and PRN.

Ty Gibbs, Monster Energy Driver of the No. 54 R Toyota GR Supra

“We’ve got one more race until the playoffs, so it’s important to get as many points as we can and hopefully get another victory. Bristol is a challenge because things happen so quick there that you can easily get caught up in the something not of your making. It’s a fun track though and hopefully we’ll have a good Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra

“Bristol is a tough track just because it’s so many cars on a high-banked half-mile and you can always get caught up in something. It’s the last race before the playoffs start so we need to get the most points we can and hopefully another victory to give us momentum heading into the playoffs.”

JGR PR