“Grandpa Shuts it Down Again”: Ty Gibbs’ Crash at High Limit Leads to Harsh Reactions from Fans

Ty Gibbs’s 2025 NASCAR season started with a series of disappointing results, recording finishes of P16, P32, P34, and P25 in the races at Daytona, Atlanta, COTA, and Phoenix, respectively.

Amid these early setbacks, Gibbs recently sought to work on his skills by participating in Kyle Larson’s High Limit Racing Series, beginning with its opening weekend in Las Vegas. His efforts, however, were thwarted by a big crash as racing began.

After qualifying 29th for the Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Gibbs took to the 1.5-mile-long track’s dirt facility for his debut in a Sprint Car. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver drew considerable attention from the crowd as he impressively progressed to the A-Main. Unfortunately, his ascent was abruptly curtailed when the #84 car suffered a severe accident, flipping three times down the backstretch.

Miraculously, after his vehicle came to a stop on all four tires, Gibbs was able to exit the car unaided and walked away from the harrowing scene, leaving spectators relieved. Fans were quick to respond to the dramatic incident, with one spectator commenting, “Cbell gonna be pissed when grandpa shuts it down again lol.”

Fans did not hold back as yet another person said, “Ty Gibbs has wrecked every vehicle he has been in this year ( clash & duels included ).” One critic bluntly stated, “Ty Gibbs is the worst driver in Cup. Period,” while another attributed the series of unfortunate events to sheer misfortune, observing, “Dude literally has bad luck following him like a shadow.”

Amid concerns about the potential for injury, which could impact his forthcoming Cup appearances, such instances could genuinely give Coach Gibbs a reason to consider banning his drivers from dirt racing once again. Meanwhile, his teammate, Christopher Bell, prudently chose not to participate in the dirt track event, thus avoiding any risk of a similar mishap.

Why didn’t Bell participate in the High Limit Racing Series opening event?

Bell, who was initially expected to participate in the High Limit Series event, recently opted out of running the event on Saturday. Before the start of the NASCAR Cup season,

Bell won his third Chili Bowl Nationals title and celebrated a win with the World of Outlaws at Volusia Speedway Park following the approval of Joe Gibbs, who allowed his drivers to participate in dirt-track events. Yet, while his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, took part in the event, Bell did not appear at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt track on Saturday.

Explaining his decision, Bell noted that although Joe Gibbs Racing and the management team supported his decision, he and his crew chief, Adam, deliberated and decided against participating in Saturday races.

A contributing factor to this decision was the logistical challenge posed by the West Coast location; a potential injury could complicate finding a replacement driver on short notice. Consequently, Bell will be focusing all his energy this weekend on what could be his fourth straight victory in the sport.