As we all know, next season Kyle Busch will be departing Joe Gibbs Racing to drive for Richard Childress in 2023. This leaves a vacant seat in the #18 car, the assumption is that his successor will be Ty Gibbs grandson of car owner Joe Gibbs.
He's been respectable driving the 23 Car in the cup with an average finish of 22.2 with a top ten finish at Michigan in the summer. On the surface, Gibbs fits all the criteria to make the leap to America's premier motorsport, but along the way, there have been many issues.
This season, there have been multiple occasions where the 19-year-old driver has shown a blatant disregard for his equipment and his competitors. It dates back to last season when Gibbs would be involved in incidents with Chase Briscoe and his teammate Harrison Burton. A year later he would be involved in more turmoil as he would get into feuds with Ryan Seig, Noah Gragson, and Sam Mayer. The most prevalent of those three was his run-in with Sam Mayer as the two would come to blows on pit-road
Things only got worse for Gibbs as last week at Texas, he was involved in an incident where he would swerve into the #42 car driven by Ty Dillon. He would then come close to running over a NASCAR official and pit-crew members. This went unnoticed till a video surfaced later on that night.
This move drew the ire of Larry McReynolds, one of the most respected figures in the garage. On his Sirius XM Radio, he stated that Gibbs should learn to carry himself before he runs in The Cup Series. As we all know running into someone on Pit-road is the cardinal sin in racing. This is something that McReynolds has seen firsthand. Back in 1990, Larry was the crew chief for Brett Bodine at the Atlanta- Journal 500 where he would witness the death of pit-crew member Mike Rich after an incident where Ricky Rudd lost control of his car and would hit Rich.
It's clear that Gibbs has the talent to drive competitively in the cup series but right now may not be the time. Originally, the plan was to have Gibbs move to cup in 2024 but Busch's departure has streamlined this process. Personally, I believe that Ty has not proven himself mature enough to compete at the top level. Until he learns to respect his equipment and the other drivers in the field, he should stay in the Xfinity series. He has been afforded a luxury most race-car drivers don't have with connections, to see issues like this continue to arise is becoming more and more disappointing. Lets hope the right decision is made in regards to moving him up.