By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Coming into the weekend, Ty Gibbs was one of just three drivers to have finished inside the top 10 in both NASCAR Cup Series races at the Chicago Street Course.
After Sunday’s race concluded with Gibbs finishing runner-up to race winner Shane van Gisbergen, he remains just one of now two drivers (along with Kyle Busch) to have done so in each of the first three editions of the race.
The second-place finish matches his best finish at NASCAR’s highest level, a result he had previously achieved at Darlington last spring.
“My team called a great strategy and got me the track position we needed to get in front and compete for the win,” Gibbs said. “So it worked out for us today and I’m glad to have a good finish, but I wish we could have gone for the win.”
Gibbs started ninth and ran well for much of the day, but the team opted to prioritize track position over stage points throughout the early portions of the race to allow him be near the front for the final stage.
The plan worked to near-perfection as Gibbs lined up alongside van Gisbergen on the front row for what ultimately wound up being the race’s final restart with nine laps to go, giving him his best chance at snatching the win away from the Trackhouse Racing driver.
But it wasn’t meant to be for Gibbs, who experienced firsthand the perils of being stuck in the outside lane on a restart at the Chicago Street Course.
“Right in that last corner, the dude on the outside gets shafted every single time,” Gibbs said. “If you watch every one of them, the inside guy wins almost every time and he just got a good enough gap and had a good restart. I had a little bit of rear tire degradation and it didn’t really help me in my launch off the corner, so he just got a good gap and got away from me.”
Gibbs said there wasn’t a whole lot he could have done differently to change the outcome.
“The outside is the less preferred lane on the racetrack and especially on the starts because there’s just not as much grip,” Gibbs said. “Maybe if he had a hiccup and slid his right front tire, maybe I could have stayed on the outside of him.”
In the end, van Gisbergen drove away from Gibbs after the restart, leaving the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to fend off a hard-charging Tyler Reddick after Reddick had stormed back through the field following a late pit stop for fresh tires.
When the yellow flag waved on the final lap for Cody Ware being stuck in the turn six tire barrier, freezing the field in their respective running positions, Gibbs’ defense of second place proved to be a success, allowing him to better the third-place finish he had in Chicago last year after having lead the most laps.
The runner-up result marks the third top five finish of the season for Gibbs, who jumps five spots in the standings, from 24th to 19th. He’s 66 points back of Bubba Wallace for the final playoff spot with seven races remaining in the regular season.
Despite the substantial gains made in the points, Gibbs wishes the caution had come out before the white flag as opposed to just after, allowing him one more shot to fight for the win.
“I would have been all for that (caution),” Gibbs said. “100%. But I think the No. 51 was underneath the (barrier) over there, so I don’t know. It would’ve been awesome though.
“It would have worked in my favor.”