Untimely caution unravels Gibbs' day in Mexico City

An untimely caution was the beginning of the end of Ty Gibbs contending for his first NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday afternoon in Mexico City. Not being able to make his way through traffic and winding up with nose damage during the final restart sealed his fate.

He at least tried to keep it in perspective afterward.

“Sometimes life just doesn’t work out for you,” Gibbs said after finishing 11th. “Sometimes things don’t work for you, and you just have to keep digging.”

Shane van Gisbergen handed the lead to Gibbs when he pitted under green for the final time in the final stage on lap 64. Joe Gibbs Racing kept Gibbs on track a lap too long because the final caution, which flew a lap later, trapped them. Gibbs, and others, were forced to pit under caution while others, including van Gisbergen, inherited the track position.

Van Gisbergen went on to win the race. Gibbs quickly moved into the top 10 on the final restart, but then stalled.

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Gibbs said he was about “10 seconds” from hitting pit road before the caution flew. Carson Hocevar brought out the final yellow when he spun and could not get the car refired and moving.

“It was not going to happen,” Gibbs said of him not making pit road. “I wish the light didn’t go off, but it went.

“You just have to keep digging and keep moving forward,” Gibbs said of trying to fight back after the caution. “That’s what it was. You can’t change anything. You can’t change [how Hocevar] couldn’t fire it back up. He sat there it seemed like for a while. Maybe he waited for a caution. I don’t know. It’s just unfortunate. We’ll keep digging and take what we got. We had a fast race car and didn’t win, but sometimes, it just happens.”

Van Gisbergen and Gibbs flexed their muscles all afternoon. Although it was van Gisbergen who led the most laps and walked away the winner, Gibbs was perhaps the second-best car. He led 20 laps and tried to go toe-to-toe with van Gisbergen when given the chance.

The Kiwi's margin of victory for was nearly 17s, but Gibbs thinks he would have had something for the Trackhouse Racing driver if things had fallen his way to keep him near the front.

“Yeah, I think so,” Gibbs said. “Had fun. Go back to America now.”