Ty Gibbs Earns First NASCAR Cup Series Win in Dramatic Bristol Finish

Ty Gibbs held off Ryan Blaney to win the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, earning his career first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

The grandson of five-time Cup Series championship team owner and two-time Super Bowl champion Joe Gibbs assumed the top spot on lap 481, staying out during a yellow flag after Chase Elliott spun in turn two.

Gibbs maintained the lead Ryan Blaney, on four fresh tires, surpassed Kyle Larson on two new tires and four other drivers who stayed out under the caution. Another caution on lap 498 as Riley Herbst spun after contact with Kyle Busch sent the race into overtime.

On the final restart, Gibbs held the high line while Blaney challenged for the win at the bottom of the 0.533-mile circuit. Gibbs held off the former series champion in the side-by-side battle, winning by 0.055 seconds.

Gibbs' win comes in his 131st Cup Series start. He won the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series championship in 2022 before moving to the Cup Series full-time in 2023. That O'Reilly Auto Parts Series title is also a bittersweet one, as Gibbs' father, Coy Gibbs, passed away hours after watching his son win the championship.

"Yeah, it's awesome, you know?" Gibbs said. "It's awesome that you can do this with great people, and to be in this position is great. I would have loved for my father to see this, but I know he knew it was gonna happen and expected it as well," Gibbs said. "It was a great day for us. My pit crew boys didn't give up. The pit crew was just amazing. This is our family. It's been great."

Gibbs also had to hold off a pair of champions for the win, battling both Blaney and Larson in the closing laps for the triumph.

"I honestly didn't care if I was going to win or not, I thought the race was awesome. I thought we were all putting on races. It was great. I feel like it's been like this all year. I really appreciate racing Ryan Blaney and Kyle, those guys always run me really well."

Even with all of his accomplishments, Joe Gibbs said Sunday's win as both a team owner and a grandfather was among the most memorable in his lifetime. He compared it to Denny Hamlin's 2019 Daytona 500 win, coming one month after the passing of J.D. Gibbs, another of Joe Gibbs' sons.

"This is one of my best experiences," said Joe Gibbs. "Obviously, when Denny [Hamlin] won honoring J.D.'s life was such a huge deal. I think about Coy, he brought Ty up the entire time. I know he's probably watching."

"I've never seen somebody work so hard in my life," said Ty Gibbs about his grandfather. "Him and my mom, I come to the shop at 6 a.m. or 7 p.m., whether everyone's there or not there, they're always there. They're working their asses off, and I really appreciate it. This is a great role model. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him."

Before Gibbs' rise to the front of the field, Blaney and Larson dominated the afternoon at "The Last Great Colosseum." Larson led 284 of the race's 505 laps, while Blaney led 190 circuits.

Blaney believed his car had improved to one of the best on the track by the end of the race, but a slight bobble while battling with Gibbs before the final caution proved costly.

"Great battle, for sure," said Blaney. "Good battle all day with a lot of different cars. I got free into three before the last yellow and I was kind of side-by-side with Ty. I just slipped it in there. It was really easy to slip off the bottom, and that cost me some time.

"I gave it my best shot the last restart. I got a good restart and, you know, it was close, we just couldn't get it done. Proud of the effort by all the 12 folks, gave me a really fast car. Fast car in qualifying, got it better through the race. At the halfway point in the race, I thought we got to be the best car, which was really good."

Despite leading nearly 300 laps, Larson acknowledged his car was not as strong at the end of the race when it mattered most and was happy to leave with a third-place finish and two stage wins.

"Blaney had, by far, the best car," Larson said. "His pit crew just kept putting him behind all day, which allowed us to lead a lot of laps and get those stage wins. I just knew it was going to be difficult to hold him off forever. It seemed like every restart, he could just plow right through the field and get to second and then he was just really fast.

"Ty got strong there the last run, too. That was probably my worst run, I think. We were making some adjustments at that point. I just got a little bit out of the rack and they were just better than me. The strategy got kind of crazy there at the end. We took the third place car, finished third. Happy with the points earned today, and we'll look forward to next week."

The next stop for the NASCAR Cup Series is Kansas Speedway for the AdventHealth 400 on Sunday, April 19. Coverage of the event begins at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-Photo credit: David Rosenblum/Lumen Digital Agency for Toyota Racing