NASCAR Cup Series veteran Denny Hamlin is one person who could be of help to teammate Ty Gibbs as the #54 driver struggles for results in the sport’s top tier. In the lead-up to the Homestead-Miami Speedway race, when asked about Gibbs’s season so far, Hamlin stated his limited interactions with Gibbs off the track but offered guidance to help him navigate his current struggles.
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Hamlin said, “I don’t see him (Ty Gibbs) a whole lot other than at the race track. And how he handles adversity he’s going through during the week, I don’t know,” acknowledging their lack of conversation. Despite the same, he extended support to the #54 team, recognizing that enduring phases are inherent in the sport. Some aspects, he noted, are within a driver’s control, while others boil down to luck.
Offering advice, Hamlin suggested, “Sometimes if you get crashed a lot, you happen to run in the place that gets crashed a lot. So, you need to figure out how to get out of that. He’s in a slump, no doubt, but have to find a way to grind through it. It’s a long season. We could be talking about in 10 weeks from now how much he’s turned it around, so it can change in this sport that quickly.”
Ty Gibbs has also ventured into dirt racing this season, inspired by the performances of his peers such as Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. Despite his efforts, the new sweat has yet to yield improvements in his NASCAR results.
In the first five races of the season, Gibbs has managed to secure a top 20 finish once, placing P16 at the Daytona 500. His subsequent race finishes have been: P32 at Atlanta, P34 at COTA, P25 at Phoenix, and P22 at Las Vegas. Meanwhile, each of his JGR teammates has finished at least one race in the top 5 in the same period, with Christopher Bell having won three races already.
Christopher Bell’s advice that might help Gibbs
During his recent appearance on the Rubbin is Racing podcast, addressing Ty Gibbs’s issue, Christopher Bell asserted that Gibbs possesses the potential to consistently finish in the top 15 and top 10. However, to come out of his current phase, Bell said that Gibbs needs to focus on every aspect of his responsibilities, including mastering the correct racing line and adjusting throttle and brake inputs accurately.
He encouraged Gibbs to persist through these challenges and ensure that he approaches each race fully prepared, having completed all necessary preparations, noting that preparation is fundamental to a driver’s success.
Ty Gibbs has yet to secure a victory in 77 starts for his team, and his current performance offers little indication of a coming breakthrough. Nonetheless, hopefully, he will heed the advice from the likes of Denny Hamlin and Bell, incorporating them into his racing approach.
