Breakthrough Win Could Be Just the Start for Gibbs

Breakthrough Win Could Be Just the Start for GibbsChris Graythen - Getty Images

Ty Gibbs wants racing to be “fun.” Crew chief Tyler Allen points to the way both men have matured in their respective roles as the reason for their success this year in NASCAR’s Cup Series.

Apparently, it’s the combination of fun and maturity that’s working for the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team this season.

This year, the duo produced Gibbs’ first career Cup victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500. That victory made Gibbs the fifth driver to record his inaugural win in NASCAR’s premier series at the tough half-mile track.

In the season’s first eight races, Gibbs and his JGR team have recorded six-consecutive top-10 finishes. He hasn’t finished outside the top 10 since the second race in February at Atlanta. Of those top 10s, all of them were top fives except one, a sixth at Darlington. Gibbs is fourth in the driver standings, 19 points behind third-place JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. He trails standings leader Tyler Reddick by 105 points.

Ty Gibbs with team owner (and grandpa) Joe Gibbs.Chris Graythen - Getty Images

“I think this points format suits us well,” Allen said. “Takes a little bit of that pressure off to win but adds the pressure to be consistent. I think that’s what we’ve done so well this year.”

This year’s performance is a huge change from the two men’s inaugural season together in 2025. Last year, they recorded five top-five and 10 top-finishes in 36 races.

“It took us a while to get to know each other,” Allen said. “That was no surprise to me. He can get frustrated. I tend to be a little more level. If he’s out there complaining about the race car, I’m trying to figure out what to do to fix the race car. But I think he’s matured a lot. At the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, he’s shown a lot of maturity.

“We’ve had a lot of discussions about how last year went, how we wanted to go into 2026. A lot of that was about having each other’s backs. I’m not going to make the right call every time. He might speed on pit road. We need to be OK on that and focus forward. I think that’s what we’ve done really good this year is focus forward.”

Allen described the duo’s 2025 season as a “character-building kind of year.”

“We were really struggling with performance,” Allen explained. “A lot of stuff going on in the background that no one really knows. But we were focused on building the program. It wasn’t going to be something that got better immediately. I’m a young crew chief; he’s a young driver. I think this past month-and-a-half has built confidence in all of us, me especially on the (pit) box, Ty in the car, that we can perform at the level that JGR should perform at.”

Gibbs noted in his post-race interview that one victory doesn’t define one’s career; however, Allen said the Bristol win was the “confidence boost” that both of them needed.

“I’ve been saying forever when he gets one, he’s going to get a lot,” Allen continued.

“He just loves driving race cars. He wants it to be fun. I said, ‘We’re going to make this year fun.’ He’s having fun right now. A loose, fun Ty is a fast Ty.”