Ty Gibbs is 45/1 to win at Fontana

Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD Preview

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No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD News and Notes

• FIRST SEASON: Ty Gibbs is competing in his first full NASCAR Cup Series season driving the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry TRD.
• START IT UP: At the Daytona 500, Gibbs started 33^rd and finished 25^th after a punctured tire late in the event put him two laps down.
• FONTANA: Gibbs has only raced at Fontana once in 2022 in the Xfinity Series where he started 12^th and finished 13^th and led three laps.
• ONE OF THIRTY-SEVEN: Gibbs made his first career NASCAR Cup Series start in July 2022 at Pocono Raceway for 23XI Racing. Gibbs is the 37^th driver younger than 20-years old to make a Cup Series start. Gibbs started at the rear of the field, but completed all 160 laps and finished an impressive 16^th. He has competed in 15 Cup races with a best finish of 10^th at Michigan International Speedway.
• NEW RECORD: Gibbs is the youngest driver ever to reach 11 victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at age 21 years one month and one day old. The previous record was held by Joey Logano.
• 2021: Gibbs completed in only 18 Xfinity races in 2021, but won four races and finished 13^th in the Xfinity Series final driver point standings. That earned him the Xfinity Rookie of the Year award.
• WHAT A DEBUT: In Gibbs’ Xfinity Series debut in February 2021 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. Those five drivers had already driven in the NASCAR Cup Series before racing in the Xfinity Series.
• ARCA CHAMPIONS: Gibbs became the 2021 ARCA Menard Series Champions on the strength of 10 wins, plus one win each in ARCA West and ARCA East.
• ATOP THE PIT BOX: Veteran crew chief Chris Gayle will oversee the No. 54 team’s efforts in the 2023 season. Gale, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, has led his drivers to two NASCAR Cup Series victories and 37 Xfinity Series wins. He was also the crew chief of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship with Gibbs. The list of drivers Gayle has visited victory lane with includes Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish Jr., Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler, Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek.
• JGR AT FONTANA: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has 93 total starts at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana in Cup competition with three wins, 20 top-five finishes, 40 top-10 finishes, five poles and the team has led 1083 laps.
• RACE INFO: The NASCAR Cup Series race at Fontana is scheduled for 3:30 pm EST on Sunday  and will be broadcast on FOX, SiriusXM Channel 90 and MRN.

 

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

“I’ve only raced at Fontana once in 2022 in the Xfinity Series. But I did race the Cup car at Michigan for 23XI and finished 10^th. They are similar tracks and I’ve got a good team behind me led by Chris Gayle and I hope we can put on a good show. Monster Energy is based out there and hopefully we can run will for them.”

 

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

“I think after Daytona, the team and the folks in the garage area feel like the season really starts now. Fontana is an interesting track as the pavement is super old and bumpy but produces some great racing. Ty’s only raced there once, but has competed in a Cup car at a similar track at Michigan last year. So, we are not going in blind. We are hoping for a good race and it’s an important race for Monster Energy, so we want to do well for them as well.”