Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

Ty Gibbs claims he ‘proved’ he is capable of winning Cup races with his speed as a rookie in 2023

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Justin P Joy | Last updated 2/9/24

2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs was promoted to the Cup Series the very next season to drive the No:54 Toyota Camry for his grandfather Joe Gibbs’ tram, JGR. He replaced the Toyota giants’ most accomplished driver, Kyle Busch , who left the team to join Richard Childress Racing over a sponsorship issue.

He ended his rookie season winless and was the only Toyota driver not to make it to the playoffs. It was disappointing, considering he already had significant experience in the Cup car, and the JGR cars were solid the whole season. But he believes that he did prove to the garage that he is a racer capable of securing trophies with his performance and speed last season.

While talking about his last season ahead of the new year, Gibbs admitted that ending the year winless wasn’t ideal. He added that he showed his speed and capability in many races, which makes him happy going into this season. He believes he can go on to win races if he and the team reduce the errors and work more on the speed.

It's not ideal, of course, to go winless. But for me, I feel like we ran really fast a lot of times during the year and showed great speed. And it shows that we can be able to go win. We put ourselves in contention to go win a couple times. So I'm happy with our speed. I just have to take care of it and my team does as well, and we'll put it together to go win. Gibbs told Fox Sports.

Toyota expects Ty Gibbs to win a race in 2024

Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson ahead of the 2024 season detailed his expectations from each of the Toyota teams this season. He wanted all JGR and 23XI cars to make it to the playoffs and believes their young prodigy Ty Gibbs can definitely win a race this year.

Four cars in the playoffs, two cars all the way to Phoenix. Anything less will be disappointing. We have a lot of confidence that Ty Gibbs is coming into his own. He demonstrated that last year. We think he's going to win this year. Wilson said.

Ending the 2024 season winless won’t leave a good impression on TY Gibbs. Hence he would be determined to win his maiden Cup race and make it to playoff this year. He had a strong start at the LA Clash by leading the most laps in the exhibition race and will be hoping to continue the same momentum going into the season.