Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra Preview — Watkins Glen 200

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No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra News and Notes

  • TENTH TIME OUT: Saturday’s 200 mile race at Watkins Glen International will be Ty Gibbs’ 10th career NASCAR Xfinity Series start. He scored a win in his series debut in February at the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has scored one pole position (Elkhart Lake) and seven top-five finishes and has led 92 laps in just nine starts.
  • WHAT A DEBUT: In Gibbs’ Xfinity Series debut at the Daytona Road Course, he led 14 of the 56 laps en route to his first career Xfinity Series win. Gibbs became the youngest driver to win a Xfinity road course race at 18 years, 4 months, 16 days. The Charlotte, N.C., native also became the second-youngest winner in Xfinity Series history after Joey Logano who won in June 2008 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta when he was 18 years and 21 days old.
  • IN GOOD COMPANY: Gibbs is the sixth driver to win in his Xfinity Series debut, joining Dale Earnhardt, Joe Ruttman, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte and Kurt Busch.
  • A TITLE IN MIND: While Gibbs is set to compete in 14 Xfinity races in 2021, he is competing fulltime in the ARCA Menards Series where he is first in points, and has scored wins at Phoenix International Raceway, Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio, Iowa Speedway and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.
  • GIBBS 2021 SCHEDULE: In 2021, Gibbs will compete for an ARCA Championship and in 14 Xfinity races, while also attempting to win the Xfinity Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. His remaining Xfinity schedule includes: Watkins Glen International (August 7), Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (August 14), Michigan International Speedway (August 21), Richmond Raceway (September 11), Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (October 9) and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (October 23).
  • GIBBS IN 2020: Gibbs captured an ARCA Menards Series-high six wins in 2020, despite only running a partial schedule. He also scored 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his 16 starts last season to help claim the organization’s first ARCA Menards Series Owner’s Championship.
  • ATOP THE PIT BOX: Veteran crew chief Chris Gayle will oversee the No. 54 team’s efforts this weekend. Gale, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, has led his drivers to two NASCAR Cup Series victories and 27 Xfinity Series wins. The list of drivers Gayle has visited victory lane with includes Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish Jr., Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler and Christopher Bell.
  •       JGR AT WATKINS GLEN: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 42 total starts at Watkins Glen in Xfinity competition with one win (Kyle Busch 2017), 15 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes and one pole-starting position (Kyle Busch 2019). The team has led 172 laps.    
  •       RACE INFO: The Watkins Glen 200 is scheduled for 4 pm EDT on Saturday, Aug. 7 and will be broadcast on CNBC, SiriusXM Channel 90 and MRN Radio.

Ty Gibbs, Driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra

“I’ve been to Watkins Glen before in a K&N Pro Series East race a couple of years ago. I’ve never been there in an Xfinity car, but am looking forward to driving the Monster Energy Toyota Supra. We had a good four weeks in ARCA and won two races and have the points lead. Its double duty this weekend with ARCA and Xfinity, but I know we’re ready.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Supra

“This is one of my favorite road course events we race in the Xfinity Series. It’s a little unique compared to most of the road course events we race, with higher speed corners and a little more right hand turn biased. It provides some challenges and setup differences that we don’t have at some of the other road course tracks. It’s also good for 54 crew guys to have a couple extra weeks to prepare for this event with the summer / Olympic break and we’ve been able to get some early work completed in the simulator and have some extra time to prepare the car and setup for this event. It’s also going to be fun to have Ty back in the car at Watkins Glen, so were looking forward to getting him back in the seat and start our three race stretch with him off right with a strong run at Watkins Glen. He already has some experience at the Glen, and should get more laps in the ARCA race before our event on Saturday. So the expectation is to get him more experience in the Monster Energy Toyota Supra and have another strong weekend in Watkins Glen.”

JGR PR

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