March 19, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Comeback Kid: Ty Gibbs rallies for win at Atlanta Motor Speedway

HAMPTON, Ga.--Ty Gibbs appeared down but was never out of the Nalley Cars 250 on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Despite a pit road miscue and slamming into the wall with 10 laps to decide the contest, Gibbs rallied for his sixth-career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in his 23rd start.

“It’s not over until it’s over,” Gibbs said. “I think I learned a great lesson tonight.”

Austin Hill, who led 27 of the final 34 laps, finished second. AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst, Landon Cassill, Mason Massey, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman, Sheldon Creed and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top 10.

Noah Gragson led 38 of the first 40 laps but admitted he wasn’t paying attention coming to the end of the stage which opened the door for Josh Berry to win the first stage. A slow stop by the newly selected No. 9 pit crew mired Gragson in traffic.

Allmendinger, who pitted on Lap 23, remained on the track during the stage break and took the lead for the first time on Lap 43 and held serve for the Stage 2 win on Lp 80. Ty Gibbs overshot his pit during stops and dropped to the back of the pack with Daniel Hemric, who was penalized for running over the "choose cone."

A rash of wrecks stalled the progress of the final stage starting with Jade Buford spinning on the backstretch and collecting Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Jeremy Clements on Lap 106. Trevor Bayne remained on the track with the lead. He held onto the point when the fifth caution occurred after Hemric slid up into Joe Graf J. seven laps later.

Gibbs paired up with Bayne in the No. 18 Toyota. The pair appeared to be in command of the race until Sam Mayer spun out on the frontstretch to trigger the sixth caution on Lap 130. Ten laps later, Brandon Brown ignited a three-way wreck sending Creed and Berry in the spin cycle coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 140.

With 10 laps remaining, Gibbs swung the No. 54 Toyota up in front the No. 16 Chevy on the high lane. Allmendinger, who had a run, slammed into the back of Gibbs and sent him into the wall.

“That’s what the kid gets for throwing a stupid block,” Allmendinger said.

Twelve drivers were involved including Gragson, who had finished on the podium in every race this season; and his teammate Justin Allgaier, who had a string of 16 top-10 finishes dating back to Michigan last August.

But Allgaier would end up giving Gibbs the push he needed at the finish following two additional cautions which tied the Xfinity record at Atlanta and sent the race into double overtime. Herbst dumped Myatt Snider entering Turn 1 on the Lap 161 restart. Two laps later, Stefan Parsons collected Matt Mills and Tommy Joe Martins in Turn 1 which forced a 12-minute red flag.

On Lap 171, Ryan Sieg held the point. but it was shortlived. With an assist from Allmendinger, Gibbs vaulted from third to first on the restart to score his second win of the 2022 season.

“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Let’s go,” Gibbs said on the radio while executing his burnout on the front stretch.

“It was so cool to win this one. It was so unexpected. The speedways where were we struggled in the past so to win it in this Sport Clips Toyota GR Supra shows we improved. We came back from 29th and messing up on pit road. The win is awesome. Still things that I have to fix and work on, but let’s go.”

Gragson retained the NXS points lead by 19 over Gibbs and Allmendinger.