Friendly fire against Brandon Jones leads to Ty Gibbs Martinsville win

While Ty Gibbs‘ talent is undeniable, he has not been doing himself any favours with his driving style. Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway did little to assuage that reputation when he broke the cardinal rule of wrecking his team-mate for the win.

Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Brandon Jones needed to win to advance to the Championship Round, and was leading when the final lap began. Gibbs, who was already locked into the last round on points, decided to go for the win anyway and gave Jones a bump in turn one, causing him to spin into the wall. As Gibbs took the checkered flag, Jones was unceremoniously classified twenty-third and eliminated from the playoffs.

Gibbs was promptly booed by the fans and roundly criticised by fans and peers. While he has established himself as a racing prodigy with ten Xfinity Series wins at the age of twenty, racing for his grandfather’s team and his on-track conduct—the latter of which already resulted in fines at both the Cup and Xfinity levels—have turned him into an increasingly unpopular figure.

“Jesus was hated first and among all the people. That’s a part of it,” said Gibbs, an outspoken Christian, about the boos. “Just silencing out the crowd, I feel like that’s what you have to do as a professional athlete and some of the best people are going to get booed. You can’t let all those opinions drive your actions and make you feel bad or anything. It’s just part of life. If I did let them eat me up, then I would be weak on my part.

“There’s definitely things to learn. There are situations where you have to learn from. You might be able to let it eat you up just a little bit just so you learn from it. Same stuff like what happened at Texas and stuff like that, even earlier this year when I got in a scuffle (coincidentally, also at Martinsville). There’s just some stuff that you might let get it to you just so you can learn from, but besides that, it’s wins are wins and you can’t let it get to you.”

Jones’ elimination allows JR Motorsports‘ Justin Allgaier to reach the Championship Round. With Noah Gragson and Josh Berry also having qualified, Gibbs is the lone non-JRM driver of the final four. Ironically, Jones will join JRM in 2023, leading many to quip that Gibbs must defeat four JRM drivers if he wants to win the title.

“I love everyone on this #19 team, but I’m excited to make my move to JRM next year and be a part of that organisation and a little bit more respect over there probably,” said Jones.

“I have no words. I know that we had some fun beating and banging back and forth a little bit but I’ve never wrecked him or anything for a win. It just kind of shows where that level was there.

“I think it opened up the opportunity to get moved, but I don’t know about dumped and destroyed and finish dead last. I guess at the end the day, I needed to win the race, so I think for second to last, it is what it is. Just expected to maybe have a little bit more of a shot at it there. I think that to me, that’s what’s fun in this sport is having a duel and not just completely destroying somebody’s day.”

The Gibbs/Jones saga dominated the storylines but was not the only post-race drama as Austin Hill and Myatt Snider traded fisticuffs after an argument. Jeb Burton and Rajah Caruth also exchanged words, though they left on amicable terms.

To quote Denny Hamlin’s imitation of Joey Logano, that’s short track racing.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	4	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	269	Running
2	2	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
3	8	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	269	Running
4	5	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
5	6	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
6	22	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
7	24	48	Nicholas Sanchez	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
8	37	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
9	36	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
10	23	02	Blaine Perkins*	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
11	11	27	Jeb Burton	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
12	18	44	Rajah Caruth*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
13	21	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
14	14	31	Myatt Snider	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
15	15	26	Derek Griffith	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	269	Running
16	9	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
17	10	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
18	3	18	Sammy Smith^	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	269	Running
19	27	08	Brandon Brown	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	269	Running
20	13	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
21	7	23	Anthony Alfredo	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	269	Running
22	33	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	269	Running
23	1	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	269	Running
24	34	38	C.J. McLaughlin	RSS Racing	Ford	268	Running
25	32	91	Mason Massey	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	265	Running
26	31	68	Kris Wright*	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	261	Running
27	12	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	260	Running
28	19	45	Howie DiSavino III	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	259	Running
29	29	6	Ryan Vargas	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	248	Running
30	38	34	Kyle Weatherman	Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	Chevrolet	242	Accident
31	25	78	Stefan Parsons*	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	219	Accident
32	30	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	215	Accident
33	17	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	206	Accident
34	28	66	J.J. Yeley	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	176	Brakes
35	26	5	Matt Mills*	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	145	Engine
36	35	13	Chad Finchum	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	137	Brakes
37	16	10	Landon Cassill	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	108	Accident
38	20	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	55	Accident
DNQ		47	Dawson Cram	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet
DNQ		77	Ronnie Bassett Jr.	Bassett Racing	Chevrolet

Bold – Currently in playoffs
^ – Competing in owner playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points