Just last season Ty Gibbs had been all the rage in the Xfinity Series. Not all the headlines were because of his performances on the race track though, with his aggressive racing style coming under a lot of criticism from his peers. Fast forward to the current season, Gibbs ended up joining his grandfather Joe Gibbs’ team. Since then the media rumblings around him have calmed down to an extent.
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Meanwhile, former JGR driver Kyle Busch has been speaking to the media and complaining about the lack of respect showcased by some of the younger drivers. It’s not just Busch, but several others have mentioned how the racing mentality has changed with the inflow of the younger crop of talent.
Recently, Ty Gibbs insisted that there was no respect issue in the realm of the NASCAR Cup Series, at least from his perspective.
Ty Gibbs disagrees with Kyle Busch’s respect problem in NASCAR
During the driver’s press conference at Michigan, Gibbs said, “The Cup Series is I feel like is so much different to the Xfinity. I feel like you can see it week in and week out. They put on a great show, but the race in Xfinity – everybody is trying to get to Cup, so there is a lot to proof.”
“I think there is already a lot of aggression in that, and of course, everyone wants to get into Cup. The Cup Series is so much different, and why it’s so much different for me is I’ve known Kevin Harvick since I was probably five, and I’ve known so much of these guys since I was super, super young. The respect is already there from me to them.”
“There are times that we do have to be really aggressive. Of course, I’m a rookie so I have to hold my ground a little more than I have, but I think all of the talk about respect in Cup – it’s more of the media talking about it than it’s actually going on. I guess it’s something for you guys to talk about, honestly.”
“I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but I feel like there is so much talk about it, but we have a lot of respect for each other, and I’ve got great respect for my teammates and all of the drivers. I’ve known Kyle Larson since I’ve raced dirt karts, and he came to our motocross shop. I’ve known those guys for so long. It’s so different.”
How has Gibbs been performing in contrast to his former rival Noah Gragson
This year, two rookies came into the Cup Series in the form of Gibbs and Noah Gragson. The pair had been rivals when competing against each other in the NASCAR Xfinity series. Both drivers, aside from Gibbs’ shenanigans, were exceptional drivers when it came to winning races. With the regular season almost under the rug, how well have the former rivals performed so far?
Looking at the JGR driver, he has done particularly well. At the moment he occupies the 17th spot in the points standings, with one top 5 and six top 10s to his name. Meanwhile, Gragson seems to have been struggling.
To be fair, many of the problems arose with the newly rebranded Legacy Motor Club team and the car they fielded. But overall in terms of statistics, Gragson sits in the 33rd place with no top 5s or top 10s. Instead, he has six DNFs and a recent indefinite suspension to his name.
