Column By: REID SPENCER & HOLLY CAIN / NASCAR – NASHVILLE, TN – Ty Gibbs showed up a the NASCAR Awards Banquet smiling and ready to receive his 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year trophy. But the former NASCAR Xfinity Champion said he was not absolutely satisfied with this first full-season run, even if he had plenty to be proud of.
Gibbs earned the first top-five and top-10 NASCAR Cup Series finishes of his career—posting four top fives and an impressive 10 top 10s over the 36-race season in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He led 112 laps, including 102 laps in the fall Bristol, Tenn. night race where he finished fifth—his best overall race effort, statistically speaking. His top finish was fourth-place at the Charlotte ROVAL.
“Statistically, yes (he was happy), but I feel like I wanted to run a lot better, of course and I’m working really hard,” Gibbs said. The one thing I can take away from my [Xfinity Series] championship [last year] and all the other championships is to enjoy the journey and I am.
“And I’m working hard. Getting better every weekend is the main goal, and I feel like I accomplished that, so I’m happy with that.
“But definitely not really anything to be satisfied with until your winning, so got to keep going.”
The 21-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs said he learned many lessons throughout the season, primarily that patience is essential in racing, no matter how counter-intuitive that may sound.
“You learn over time and the way Cup series is now, there are not as many crazy moves going on as there were in Xfinity Series,” Gibbs said, allowing a smile.
“I’m not worried about showing others what I’m doing, I think for me, I’m just trying to do the best I can and when I can do that it shows others,” Gibbs added. “It’s a fine line. You can’t race to make everybody else happy but at the same time, if you do everything right and calculate everything right and are patient, usually it pays off.”
“For me, like this year, even if I wasn’t running as well, I’m still trying to figure out what I have to do to run better and win and that’s the same it will be for next year and until I retire. For me, it’s working hard during the week, having fun, but really learning where I can get better at. I want to win every week if I could, and I want to win championships too. I feel like it’s been the same motto for me since I’ve been in ARCA and Xfinity, it was how I was raised.
Kevin Harvick has a “retirement” project at hometown speedway
Now retired from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing after accumulating 60 victories in the premier division, Kevin Harvick is set to begin a new career as a full-time broadcaster in the FOX Sports booth.
That’s not the only activity, however, that will occupy Harvick’s attention. Kern County Raceway Park in Harvick’s hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., was purchased recently by Tim and Lisa Huddleston and renamed Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in honor of the 2014 Cup champion.
Harvick’s commitment will constitute more than just providing a marquee name. He’ll be involved in plotting the future of the half-mile asphalt track.
“Bakersfield is obviously my hometown, and I view it as one of the biggest racing towns in the country,” Harvick said during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Thursday morning at the Music City Center. “When I look at the Kern facility and what it is, it’s one of the nicest short tracks in the country. It’s kind of that hidden gem that just needed a kick in the butt to kind of get restarted and reintroduced to the world.
“Working with Tim Huddleston and his family and hopefully getting that back to having the right events and the right weekly shows that it needs and everything that’s going to happen is going to be fun. I’m looking forward to that project, and those are the types of projects that I enjoy, and we’re looking forward to hopefully great things.”
Harvick raced at Kern County in 2018, finishing fourth in a one-off appearance in an ARCA Menards Series West race.