Ty Gibbs wins 2022 Xfinity Series championship

It’s not often that a driver gets a sea of boos after winning a championship, but Ty Gibbs was the recipient of one on Saturday.

After being the centre of intense scrutiny all week for wrecking team-mate Brandon Jones at Martinsville, Gibbs continued to maintain an apologetic stance even moments after securing the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series title.

“What I did last week was unacceptable, and I apologise once again, but it was unacceptable because we could have had two shots to win this deal, and it was stupid from an organisation standpoint,” said Gibbs. “All my fault. I can sit here and tell you I’m sorry as much as I can, but it’s not going to fix it. I’ve got to fix my actions.”

While he is arguably the most unpopular NASCAR champion in recent memory, he still has a title nonetheless. The 20-year-old set the Xfinity Series on fire since his début in 2021, and a full season in 2022 bore more fruit with seven wins including the finale at Phoenix Raceway to claim the title. Gibbs is the first driver born after 2000 to win a national series title, while Joe Gibbs Racing enjoys their fourth Xfinity driver’s title and second in a row.

Due to taking out Jones, Gibbs was the lone non-JR Motorsports car in the Championship Four as he faced Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, and Noah Gragson. Gibbs won the pole and the first two stages, but Allgaier and Gragson lurked behind. Berry eventually fell out after a poor restart with 30 laps remaining caused him to hit the wall.

Allgaier assumed the lead on said restart, but surrendered the spot to Gibbs and Gragson. Although the lapped JRM car of Sam Mayer, who suffered damage in a multi-driver crash after being spun by Gibbs’ team-mate Sammy Smith, attempted to block the leader, he was unable to provide enough interference for Gragson to catch up.

Gragson, who has not been shy about disliking Gibbs and even called him a “douchebag” in his post-race interview, still congratulated him on the title with a handshake. Both will likely continue their feud in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023 when Gragson joins Petty GMS Motorsports, while Gibbs is widely expected to replace Kyle Busch in the #18 JGR Toyota.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	1	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
2	4	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
3	11	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
4	6	10	Landon Cassill	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
5	16	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
6	8	2	Sheldon Creed †	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
7	19	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	200	Running
8	10	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
9	14	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
10	2	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
11	5	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	200	Running
12	3	48	Nick Sanchez	Big Machine Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
13	9	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
14	35	34	Kyle Weatherman	Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
15	30	36	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
16	21	27	Jeb Burton	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
17	37	44	Rajah Caruth*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
18	33	92	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
19	20	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
20	7	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	200	Running
21	17	02	Parker Retzlaff	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
22	22	38	Kyle Sieg †	RSS Racing	Ford	200	Running
23	18	26	Kaz Grala*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	200	Running
24	25	35	Joey Gase	Emerling-Gase Mootrsports	Toyota	200	Running
25	36	31	Myatt Snider	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
26	31	68	Kris Wright*	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	Running
27	28	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	200	Running
28	15	45	Stefan Parsons*	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	199	Running
29	26	6	Brennan Poole*	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	198	Running
30	29	66	J.J. Yeley	MBM Motorsports	Ford	197	Running
31	32	13	Dawson Cram	MBM Motorsports	Ford	196	Running
32	24	78	B.J. McLeod	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	196	Running
33	34	91	Mason Massey	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	196	Running
34	13	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	195	Running
35	23	23	Anthony Alfredo	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	194	Running
36	38	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	193	Running
37	27	08	Brandon Brown	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	154	Suspension
38	12	77	Dillon Bassett	Bassett Racing	Chevrolet	152	Engine
DNQ		5	Matt Mills	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet

Bold – Champion
Underline – Championship Round driver
Italics – Rookie of the Year
† – Competed for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points