Ty Gibbs has completely thrown himself into the deep end here.
The NASCAR Cup Series youngster and grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs Racing has helped convince ‘The Coach’ to let all his drivers race on dirt again, leading to his own debut in the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals on Tuesday night.
Beyond his Midget debut in the Turkey Night Grand Prix, his experience in a Midget is quite minimal. He tested the Chad Boat owned indoor car at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, North Carolina and then had two three-minute hot laps on Sunday in practice day.
Now he’s going to race.
“It’s just super cool to be able to do this,” Gibbs told Sportsnaut on Sunday. “It’s been super fun. It’s just a blast. I had my first practice and there weren’t a lot of laps but it was really fun for what I got to do.
“It was like a dopamine hit. So much fun. I was excited when I was running around, doing laps, and just feeling it out. I feel more comfortable than I was last time, just that once, but I don’t know. I like it more and more each time I get in it.”
Gibbs tested a 410 Sprint Car over the autumn, which really started this process, both because he enjoys numerous disciplines of motorsports but also because Toyota is hugely invested in Midgets and Sprint Cars. He raced Micro Sprints all summer at Millbridge too.
But Indoor Midgets have wider tires and Gibbs is once again having to adjust because they race different than the outdoor counterpart.
“I feel like I had more grip than I honestly expected going into it,” Gibbs said of practice. “I don’t really know yet but I feel really good in the car. I feel comfortable. The car is driving me more than I’m driving it because I just don’t have the experience yet.
“I can’t say it enough, how much fun I’m having. I enjoy it and I just wish I could run more laps.”
Boat has really enjoyed working with and developing Gibbs as a dirt racer.
“First of all, Ty got into the Micro and immediately adapted to that, right,” Boat said. “Ty is a race car driver. I was very unsure at first because I wondered where this was going to go but I learned Ty is a race car driver, through and through.
“He has all the potential to learn it and now it’s just a matter of getting him laps. Like Daison Pursley is 20 years old and Ty isn’t much older but there is a difference of thousands of laps. Ty can’t ever catch up but we have to do everything we can to expedite that process.”
Boat praised his entire team for how much the likes of Pursley, Justin Grant and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. have all pitched in with Gibbs.
“He has a lot of guys to lean on and help him learn,” Boat said. “So we go into Tuesday with realistic goals and figure out where our starting point is here for the future. It’s no different when I bring a kid up from Micros here. You finish 18th? Okay, that’s a starting point. Let’s see where we are in 6-12 months and if we’re doing the right things from a process standpoint.
“If we do that, we’ll end up where we want to be.”
For his part, Gibbs is taking this seriously and he is aware that it’s going to be a process. But he wants to progress and he wants to expand his racing portfolio in the years to come.
“I want to go race everything,” Gibbs said. “Honestly, I would love to do everything I could. I love the open wheel stuff, dirt and asphalt. I wish I could race everything. I think maybe I can someday. Cup is my main focus and always will be but racing is fun.
“You know how much of a race fan I am. I love this. All of it. It’s my life. It’s the only thing I want to do and I don’t care about the naysayers or if anyone thinks I shouldn’t. I just really enjoy it.”
Gibbs said the atmosphere at Chili Bowl reminds him of going to Supercross and Motocross style events with his dad, the late Coy Gibbs. There is a lot of this that is Gibbs racing in a way that he believes he would have enjoyed with his dad.
“It’s a lot like racing bikes with my father and I wish I could go back any day of the week to go do that again,” Gibbs said. “It was so much fun. But this has very similar vibes. This is a blast, I’m learning a ton and I enjoy how much the track changes.
“It’s making me a smarter race car driver and I like all the ways it challenges me. It’s just really fun.”
