Ty Gibbs has found himself in controversy again. Shocking, right? During the Cup Series race at Texas, Gibbs door slammed Ty Dillon while on pit road. The contact veered Dillon toward crew members and NASCAR officials working in a pit stall. Luckily, Gibbs’s brazen move did not result in any injury to those in the pit stall. NASCAR fined Gibbs $75,000 for the incident, a larger amount since this is Gibbs’s second incident on pit road this year. Gibbs took to Twitter to apologize for his actions.
Drama has followed Ty Gibbs’s NASCAR career so far. This year alone he has been fined twice. The previous time was for driving into Sam Mayer’s car after the Spring Xfinity race at Martinsville. That action resulted in punches being thrown between the two. Gibbs was fined $15,000 for driving into Mayer’s car on pit road. Twice in one year Gibbs has used his car as a bulldozer on pit road with people in harm’s way.
The drama with Ty Gibbs is not only down to these type of antics. His on-track style ruffles the feathers of plenty of fans and drivers. At the Spring at Richmond, Gibbs bumped teammate John Hunter Nemechek out of the way to win the race. At Watkins Glenn, Gibbs attempted entering the bus stop side-by-side with William Byron. That action resulted in both of them spinning out and finishing outside the top 20. Any time a race is winding down and Ty Gibbs is near the lead, there is an uneasy feeling that he will perform a “dirty” move for the win. If that move leads to dumping his competitor, it is justified since he was going for the win.
There is no denying Gibbs has talent. Even with racing his grandfather’s top equipment, Gibbs is impressive. However, he is leaving a sour taste with fans and drivers alike. If Gibbs continues to drive this way, he is line to become the next NASCAR villain.
What is a NASCAR Villain?
Any form of entertainment needs their characters. There are the heroes, the underdogs, the background characters, and, perhaps most importantly, the villains. NASCAR is no different. Fans love a driver or two that they can hate. These drivers are the ones who are showered with boos when they make their pre-race entrance. Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Tony Stewart, and, more recently, Denny Hamlin are some of the more notable villains over the recent years. While some fans love them, most love to boo them.
Which leads to an important question: what makes a driver a villain? It comes down to three main factors:
- On-Track Success: In order to be a true villain of the sport, the driver in question has to be successful. It is hard to get large swaths of NASCAR fans to hate the driver finishing in 30th each week. For example, Quinn Houff made some bone-head moves on the track during his two years in the Cup Series. He frustrated fans. However, Houff rode around the back of the pack. If he was not gaffing, most fans did not notice him. A villain in NASCAR has to win races. Not simply be competitive or occasionally, but win frequently. Whatever series they are driving in, that driver has to be constantly upfront and competing to win races.
- On-Track Aggression/Bad Attitude: Winning is not enough to make someone a villain. Jimmie Johnson won seven championships and surely aggravated fans by his success. However, he was not a villain. Johnson usually raced everybody cleanly, did not ruffle many feathers with other drivers, and had a good off-track persona. Compare that to Joey Logano. Logano once bumped Mark Martin out of the way to win a race. That is evidence enough for his villain status. To continue though, he is not apologetic for his on-track aggression. That does not lead to goodwill with the fanbase. Aggressive driving plus non-apologetic attitude or ego equals fan hatred.
- Loyal Fanbase: The first two factors are good enough to get a driver booed. It is even enough to get some groans when that driver wins. However, the final piece to NASCAR-wide villain status is a loyal fanbase to counter the hatred. A following of devoted fans who cannot entertain the idea of their driver of any wrongdoing. These fans are the ones who take to the comments section to argue with anybody “badmouthing” their driver.
Analyzing Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs was going to have a tough path to becoming a fan favorite. Being the grandson of Joe Gibbs does not endear him to the NASCAR fans from the start. That would not mean he was destined to be hated. Chase Elliott is the most popular driver in NASCAR. His father is Bill Elliott. If Dale Earnhardt Jr was still racing, he would still be the most popular driver. Similar to Gibbs, Earnhardt Jr raced for his father’s team in quality equipment early in his career. It is possible to be beloved even with the “silver spoon” factor. However, Gibbs has not made the necessary steps to avoid the controversy.
On-Track Success
To put it plainly, check. Ty Gibbs has been a dominant driver in the Xfinity Series. He won the first race he started in the series at the Daytona Road Course. In 45 races, Gibbs has won 9 times, finished in the Top-5 20 times, and has an average finish of 10.3. In only 18 races last year, Gibbs managed to finished 13th in points. On the Xfinity Series level, Gibbs definitely checks this box.
His Cup Series career has received an early start due to Kurt Busch’s concussion issues. So far, he has been respectable. While only one Top-10 to his name, he consistently finishes in the Top-20. Some of Gibbs’s worst finishes have come down to mechanical failures or wrecks. Gibbs has been holding his own in the Cup Series, especially under short notice. His moderate success might be why Toyota did not do everything they could to retain Kyle Busch. It would not be surprising to see Gibbs in the 18 car next year.
On-Track Antics
If he was not checking this box, this article would not be written. Ty Gibbs on-track talents are complimented by his aggressive driving. He has shown he is not afraid to race rough for wins. Gibbs will boot his own teammate out of the way in order to win.
Gibbs has also shown that he is willing to retaliate when “wronged”. He did it to Sam Mayer at Martinsville after late race contact. Ty Dillon bumped him on pit road at Texas so Gibbs decided to retaliate in that moment. Additionally, Gibbs bumped Erik Jones under caution that same race. It seems that Gibbs cannot control his anger in the moment when another driver “wrongs” him.
Gibbs’s on-track antics are getting old. Aggression driving is one thing, but the pit road incidents have to stop before he hurts someone.
Off-Track Attitude
Between the Martinsville and Texas incidents, the heat on Ty Gibbs was easing up. He still had his on-track style that rubbed people the wrong way, but everything else seemed to mellow out. Maybe it was due to his sudden call-up to replace Kurt Busch that got people excited to see a young driver behind the wheel. Maybe it was his appearance on Dale Jr’s podcast that helped. Gibbs came off well in that interview. Either way, the controversy was missing for a bit.
Then Texas screwed all that goodwill up. Sure, Gibbs has apologized for his actions on Twitter. Does anybody believe he has learned from this incident? Not at all. He has apologized before and yet here he is again. It is a question of when the next incident will happen rather than if.
Perhaps the thing that annoys a large chunk of the fanbase is how Gibbs appears inauthentic. Gibbs’s words do not line up with the actions fans see on track. His post race winning interviews normally include saying “all glory to God” or a similar phrase. To be clear, his religious beliefs are not an issue. However, a driver who puts emphasis on his faith during his post win interviews does not line up with his actions on track. This is especially true when he believes he was wronged.
Fanbase
While not on the levels of Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs has a growing fanbase that defends his actions. The second reply on his apologetic tweet is someone commenting “I’ll always stand by you”. No matter the action, Gibbs has fans who will argue in his defense. Once he goes full time Cup Series racing, that fanbase will only grow. If Gibbs wins in the Cup Series, it will grow exponentially.
This will drive his detractors crazy, especially if his current antics keep up. For every questionable move he makes, there will be debates. If that questionable moves involves a a fan favorite driver, then the spectacle of that comment section will be popcorn-worthy.
Conclusion
At this point, Ty Gibbs has lined himself up to be the next villain of NASCAR. On the Xfinity Series level, he is already there. For the Cups Series, the only determining factor left is his success level. It might take a couple of years for him to find his footing, but it would not be surprising to see him rattling off at least two or three wins per year in Joe Gibbs Racing equipment. If Gibbs drives like he does now, then the heat on him will be nuclear.
Now, is this a bad thing? Absolutely not, as long as the pit road incidents stop. As mentioned earlier, NASCAR needs villains. Imagine NASCAR over the past decade without Kyle Busch. The sport would have been severely less interesting to watch without Rowdy toying with the fans. Busch embraced the role and it worked wonderfully for him and NASCAR. His post win bow to the chorus of boos that rain down on him is expert trolling. If Ty Gibbs can accept his role as villain, then it will provide the sport a new entertaining villain. Based on his post win celebrations, he has the charisma to pull it off.
Ty Gibbs has positioned himself well to replace Kyle Busch. Not only by taking his spot in the 18 car, but by becoming the new young villain of the sport.
It is difficult to like this young man. Ty Gibbs post race interviews don’t come across as genuine. His apologies also seem hollow. It’s like he’s been coached to say the correct things but doesn’t feel like it comes from his heart. I have to agree about the Dale Jr. interview. He did a believably good job talking about his personal life. He does have those villain tendencies but unlike Kyle Busch he doesn’t own it.
I think that inability to own his villain tendencies will hinder his ability to be the next villain. I’m sure he will be a villain in many fans’ eyes, but I doubt he will reach the level of boos that a Kyle Busch gets.
Owning it, is key to reach that level of across the board type of villainy, where a large majority of fans of the sport (excluding those fans of the driver in question of course) are always hating on you.
Also being at JGR may hinder his ability to own it. Yeah they had Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch, but it seems like JGR prefers the corporate styled approach of hollow apologies. You never know though.
Joe Gibbs has always been more tolerant of varied personalities than say, Rick Hendrick. Gibbs has had Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and now Ty. I don’t see that as a preference for the “corporate styled approach” at all.
It is interesting to consider what makes a driver “popular.” Bill Elliott won the MPD award 16 times (and would have won more if he hadn’t taken his name off the ballot), even though he was arguably the “least favorite” of the media. The fans seemed to see a nice guy and a clean racer who beat the better-known drivers and owners at their own game. Yet the media didn’t like Bill’s taciturn attitude with them and his insistence that he was part of the crew that worked on the car and didn’t have time for interviews. In fact, the more the press turned against Bill, the more popular he became with the fans.
Chase has seemed to inherit a lot of the same type of fan, who will tolerate no bad-mouthing of their driver and have been described by other drivers and fans as “toxic.”