Despite finishing fifth, Ty Gibbs made a valiant effort to ensure Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway was all about honoring Kyle Busch.
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Despite finishing fifth, Ty Gibbs made a valiant effort to ensure Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway was all about honoring Kyle Busch.
Running his regular No. 54 that Busch first won with in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and a paint scheme throwing back to his iconic, yellow M&Ms scheme, with sponsorship from M&Ms, Gibbs was the center of attention before the green flag waved.
Standing next to Gibbs' car, Kyle Busch's widow, Samantha Busch stood with the couple's children, Brexton and Lennix, and spoke to the crowd in one of her first public appearances since the family patriarch's untimely death in May.
Leading up to the weekend, Gibbs welcomed the family into the shop that Rowdy spent the NASCAR equivalent of a lifetime in. Gibbs also embraced Brexton as like a younger brother and like a mentor the now 11-year-old, wise behind his years, has been missing.
Carrying this with him as he strapped in for 500 laps, including lap 18 that was dedicated entirely to Busch with a special tribute, Gibbs didn't disappoint. After finishing the second stage in second to Ryan Blaney, who led a race-high three times for 202 laps, Gibbs ended Blaney's reign 64 laps into the first green flag run of the final stage on lap 325.
Gibbs' own reign then hit a snag when a caution fell after the pitted. After everything cycled around and the race went back green with 95 laps to go, Hocevar jumped out to a two-second lead over Gibbs. Then, after Hocevar hit lap traffic, his lead evaporated.
However, Gibbs wasn't immune from the trouble of traffic.
Gibbs had taken the lead from Hocevar when lap-down drivers Alex Bowman and Cole Custer squeezed him exiting turn four. Bowman spun and brought out the caution, which fell on lap 433, according to NASCAR timing and scoring.
Gibbs' team noticed a rub on both sides but risked keeping their driver on the track while Hocevar and others pitted. Hocevar ripped the top back to the front and tried multiple times to get him for the lead, getting scored as the leader for two laps before a scrap with Hocevar allowed Logano got the better of them.
Gibbs ultimately led three times for 120 of the closing 176 laps. Combined with his stage performances, he is now fifth in points, 42 points behind new leader Kyle Larson, heading to Kansas Speedway.
At Kansas, Gibbs finished ninth in the spring and started eighth last fall.
