November 5, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Ty Gibbs brings the Xfinity Series title to Toyota

AVONDALE, Ariz.—After a controversial finish to advance to the final four, Ty Gibbs did his best to quiet his critics by winning the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.

It didn’t help. There were far more boos than cheers as he climbed from the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to celebrate the victory and the title.

But that didn’t faze the 20-year-old racer in the least. Nothing was going to tarnish the accomplishment of becoming the newest Xfinity champion.

“First off, I just want to say thank you to my team,” Gibbs said. “Every one of these guys, my pit crew, they did an awesome job. They put us here. Great job to my team."

Then Gibbs added yet another mea culpa.

“What I did last week was unacceptable," Gibbs said. "I apologize once again, but it was unacceptable because we could have had two shots to win this deal, and it was stupid from an organizational standpoint. All my fault.

"I can sit here and tell you I'm sorry as much as I can, but it's not going to fix it. I've got to fix my actions. I felt like today I had a good race, felt like I made some good moves. Me and the (Justin Allgaier) were racing really hard. I felt like hopefully we put on a great show for you guys, the fans, and thank you for all that you guys do.”

Noah Gragson, who coined the title bout “three-and-a-half men,” finished second, 0.397 seconds behind Gibbs. When he climbed from the car, Gragson admitted, “It sucks to lose to someone like that.”

Gragson then went to Victory Lane to shake Gibb's hand.

Justin Allgaier, who battled tight conditions with his car in the closing laps finished third followed by Landon Cassill and AJ Allmendinger. Josh Berry, the fourth title contender, finished 13th.

Gibbs ran a perfect race. He started from the pole, won both stages and kept his nose clean throughout the race. He traded the lead with Gragson and Allgaier ten times before emerging with the point with 20 laps remaining.

Despite Gragson and Allgaier taking issues with Gibbs’ actions in the past, both drivers were complimentary of the No. 54’s performance on Saturday.

“Pocono proved to me that he does have the potential, and he's very, very talented,” Gragson said. “Sometimes you've just got to put him back in his place a little bit. He races really, really hard, but really, really clean. And he raced like a champion tonight, and he deserves it.”

Allgaier, who was making his fifth appearance in the Championship 4 Round, battled Gibbs for 70 laps. He appeared sympathetic of Gibbs' growing pains.

“We all make mistakes,” Allgaier said. “We've all been there. We've all done that. How he comes out of this is going to be on him. Whether it be another year here, in the Cup Series. I think we all kind of agree he's probably going Cup racing next year in the (54)…but I think he's going to have to right some wrongs. But it's a possibility.

“As Noah said, he did the best job of any of us tonight. When we all moved up to the top, he stayed on the bottom and he ran his line. You've also got to think like he's super young, he's lived a different lifestyle than Noah and I have, and he's making decisions based on what he thinks is best. Is that decision always best? Probably not. But we've all been there, we've done that. He did a great job tonight. He ran the best race, and they had the best car. You can't knock them for that.”

Neither Allgaier nor Gragson went down without a fight. With the exception of his tach, Allgaier’s dash was flickering or blank. All three JR Motorsports drivers had issues on pit road during the first stop, but quickly recovered. By Lap 123, they were all running in the top four. As the race went on, however, their cars tightened up. On the final restart, after the eighth and final caution when Gragson sent Brandon Jones into the spin cycle, Berry slid up into the backstretch wall. He dropped from third to 23rd. Allgaier had the lead but Gibbs kept nipping at the left rear of the No. 7 Chevy.

Allgaier faded with 20 to go. Gibbs took the lead and Gragson moved to second on Lap 181. Although Gragson climbed to within 0.397 seconds of the No. 54, Gibbs held on to win the race and the title.

“I focused out the windshield,” Gibbs said. “I felt like we had a great race with those guys. Great job to JR Motorsports, but the 25 percent won. Awesome job.

“Thank you to all the guys. Had an awesome time racing in the Xfinity Series this year, and looking for more and I'm very excited. Thank you for everybody. We're champions.”