In his second full-time campaign at the NASCAR Cup Series level, Ty Gibbs has a new title to add to his young career: 2024 Cup Series Playoff candidate, a feat he accomplished by points and through steady consistency after falling short of the cutline during last year’s rookie season.
Gibbs, grandson of championship-winning team owner Joe Gibbs and the 2023 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year recipient from Charlotte, North Carolina, commenced his sophomore Cup season in 17th place during the 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February but rallied by finishing in the top 10 during his next five starts. He would then finish no higher than 10th throughout his next six starts before he notched a career-best runner-up result at Darlington Raceway in May.
Two weeks after recording his best on-track result in a Cup Series event, Gibbs notched his first career pole position for this year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he would proceed to finish sixth. He would then finish no higher than third following his next six scheduled starts before he rallied by fishing third at the Chicago Street Course.
For the remaining six regular-season events in 2024, Gibbs recorded two top-five results despite being mired with four results of 20th or worse, including this past weekend’s Cook Out Southern 500. While he continues his pursuit of his first Cup Series career race victory, Gibbs will commence the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs in 15th place in the Playoff standings with 2,004 points. He will also square off against his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., for the title.
Amid the disappointment of his 20th-place run this past weekend at Darlington due to being collected in a late multi-car wreck, Gibbs was left satisfied with making his first postseason appearance as a Playoff contender as he strives to add a Cup Series championship trophy next to his Xfinity Series title hardware achieved two years ago.
“[I] Wish we could have finished better [at Darlington], but most importantly, we made the Playoffs and that’s what we came here to do,” Gibbs said at Darlington on USA Network. “We accomplished that, so I’m very happy to being able to make it and we’ll go see what we can do in 10 weeks. We got to get through next week first. Atlanta is a tough one, but I feel like we’re really strong in the races for the rest of the season and we’ll see what we can do and go out there and give it our best shot. I’d love to win at all of [the Playoff races].”
Ty Gibbs’ pursuit for his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2024 commences at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 and the start of the 2024 Playoffs. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, September 8, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
