Competing in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series division, Ty Gibbs is scheduled to achieve a milestone start. By taking the green flag in this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry XSE entry will make career start No. 100 in NASCAR’s premier series.
Gibbs, the grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner Joe Gibbs of JGR from Charlotte, North Carolina, made his inaugural presence in the Cup division at Pocono Raceway in July 2022. During the event, he drove as a relief competitor for 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch, who would be ruled out indefinitely and eventually completely from NASCAR competition due to suffering concussion-like symptoms amid a single-car wreck while qualifying for the Pocono event. By then, Gibbs was campaigning in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series for JGR. Driving the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota Camry TRD entry, Gibbs recorded a 16th-place result after rallying from starting at the rear of the field.
Following his Cup debut at Pocono, Gibbs would compete in the following five Cup events in 23XI Racing’s No. 45 entry. During the five-race stretch, he recorded his first top-10 career result in NASCAR’s premier series by finishing 10th at Michigan International Speedway in August after rallying from a late pit road penalty. Then prior to the 10-race Cup Playoff stretch in late 2022, Gibbs swapped 23XI Racing rides with teammate Bubba Wallace, where Wallace piloted the No. 45 Toyota that was contending for the owner’s championship while Gibbs took over Wallace’s No. 23 entry. Making nine starts in the No. 23 entry, Gibbs recorded three top-20 results, including a 15th-place finish in the Playoff opener at Darlington Raceway in September. Prior to the Cup Series finale at Phoenix Raceway in November, Gibbs did not compete in the event due to the death of his father, Coy, as Daniel Hemric would fill in for Gibbs. Amid Gibbs’ part-time Cup campaign, he claimed the 2022 Xfinity Series championship.
Ten days after winning the 2022 Xfinity title, Gibbs was named a full-time Cup Series competitor of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry TRD entry for the 2023 season, where he would contend for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. He commenced his rookie Cup campaign by finishing 25th in the 65th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Then after finishing no higher than 16th during his next three starts, the Charlotte native notched four consecutive top-10 results, with his first three being in the ninth position. He would then only manage to finish in the top 15 twice during his next nine starts before recording his next top-10 result during the series’ inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course, where he finished ninth. Despite achieving his first two career top-five results in the form of fifth-place runs during his next throughout the final eight regular-season events on the schedule, Gibbs fell short of securing a spot into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs.
Despite the disappointment of missing the cutline to make the 2023 Cup Playoffs, Gibbs generated a strong run at Bristol Motor Speedway in September, where he led 102 of 500 laps before finishing in fifth place. Three races later, he notched a career-best fourth-place finish at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October. Despite recording a single top-10 result within the final four events on the schedule, Gibbs capped off his rookie Cup campaign in 18th place in the final driver’s standings. In addition, he achieved the 2023 Cup Series Rookie-of-the-Year title, thus becoming the fourth competitor to achieve the accolade as a Joe Gibbs Racing competitor.
Returning for a second Cup campaign in 2024, Gibbs commenced his sophomore Cup season by finishing 17th during the 66th running of the Daytona 500. He then notched his first two Cup career poles throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, where his first occurred at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 in May before he notched his second at Pocono in July. To go along with a total of seven top-five results and 11 top-10 results, Gibbs managed to claim the final berth into the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs, which marked his first time competing for a title within the Cup Series’ postseason format. After finishing 17th, 15th and 22nd, respectively during the Playoff’s Round of 16, however, Gibbs was eliminated from the Playoffs by 12 points. Managing a single top-five finish for the remaining seven events on the schedule, he concluded his second Cup campaign in 15th place in the final standings. By then, he doubled his total top-five results, achieved two additional top-10 results, led an extra 305 laps from his rookie Cup season and boosted his average-finishing result from 18.4 to 17.4 in 2024.
Through 99 previous Cup starts, Gibbs has achieved two poles, 13 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, 563 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.0 as he continues his pursuit for his first series’ victory. He is currently ranked in 26th place in the 2025 driver’s standings and has finished in the top 10 twice through the first 12-scheduled events of the 2025 season.
Ty Gibbs is scheduled to make his 100th Cup Series career start at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600. The event is scheduled to occur this Sunday, May 25, and air at 6 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
