Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson dominated Bristol Motor Speedway’s Food City 500, leading 474 of the 505 laps in the overtime event, but neither of them could deprive 23-year-old Ty Gibbs of his first career NASCAR Cup victory.
Gibbs, who led the race’s final 25 laps, became the fifth driver to record his first career Cup victory at the tough half-mile track, defeating Blaney by 0.055-second and Larson by 0.229-second. The other four drivers who scored their first Cup victory at Bristol are seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Cup champions Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch, and Ernie Irvan.
Gibbs said it was “super cool” to be in that elite group.
“Those are the most bad-ass guys there ever was,” Gibbs said. “Kurt has been such a big help for me in my career.”
The race’s turning point occurred during the eighth caution period, which consumed laps 478-485 of the originally scheduled 500-lap race. Larson and Blaney pitted, but Gibbs didn’t.
“On that last green-flag run, we had been discussing for a majority of that stint what we were going to do if the caution came out on any given lap,” crew chief Tyler Allen said. “As the laps closed down, having watched a couple of the races, knowing there was very little fall-off, it was our preference to stay out. I had a short discussion with Ty. He was on board.”
It’s an emotional victory celebration for Ty Gibbs. After 131 starts, he’s finally a Cup Series winner at @ItsBristolBaby!! pic.twitter.com/S6LHKZYg90
Since Gibbs didn’t pit during that caution period, he restarted in the lead. Larson pitted for two tires and restarted sixth, while Blaney took four fresh tires and restarted seventh.
Blaney and Larson quickly charged to the front and with five laps remaining, Blaney was second and Larson third to leader Gibbs. Two laps later Kyle Busch spun Riley Herbst in turn one. That sent the race into overtime, providing Blaney and Larson with one more shot at Gibbs.
When they lined up for the green-white-checker finish, Gibbs took the outside of the front row, while Blaney positioned himself on the inside. Larson lined up behind Gibbs. While Blaney would remain even with Gibbs he could never pass him and Gibbs took the victory.
“Before the last yellow, I was side-by-side for the lead and I slipped into (turn) three and that kind of cost us a shot to get it before that last yellow,” said Blaney, who led six times for 190 laps.
“I thought I had a good restart (after the final yellow flag), but the bottom was just hard to hit. I didn’t maybe get the best (turns) one and two the last lap and didn’t have a far enough position. I really got a good (turns) three and four coming to the checkered, but it was a little bit too late. I’m not gonna throttle up and destroy somebody.”
Even though Larson led five times for 284 laps and won the first two Stages, the Hendrick Motorsports driver said Blaney probably had the better car, but he kept losing positions on pit road.
“I was watching my mirror,” Larson said. “He’d have a bad pit stop and drive right back up to second with no problem. We were just a little too free to run the pace he was running around the bottom, even on the top, too.”
Blaney remains second to Tyler Reddick in the driver standings, while Larson is sixth.
Bristol Motor Speedway hasn’t been a good short track for Tyler Reddick. In fact, entering this year’s Food City 500 the 23XI Racing driver had only produced two top-five finishes in 10 starts at the tough half-mile track.
However, in Sunday’s Food City 500, Reddick rebounded from a pit road penalty to secure his second-consecutive top five at Bristol and third overall.
Reddick qualified second for the event, but the driver standings leader incurred a pit road speeding penalty on lap 64 during the first caution period. That miscommunication before their first pit stop sequence left Reddick 31st on the restart.
The California native spent the rest of the race methodically working his way through the field. When the final Stage went green on lap 261, Reddick was 10th. He finally broke into the top five for the restart following the eighth caution period on lap 486 and remained there for the rest of the event, eventually finishing fourth.
“We had more speed this time around, which was great, but unfortunately, still fighting brake and steering issues along the way,” Reddick said. “Very physical day inside the race car. I may even take a day off tomorrow.”