Gibbs eager to get back after it following a tough 2025 Cup season

Ty Gibbs is about to enter his fourth NASCAR Cup Series season in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, starting with this weekend's Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. The 2023 Rookie of the Year will look to rise from his 19th-place finish in the 2025 Cup standings.

He and his rivals will have to wait a little longer than they expected to get going, though.

"It looks like it’s going to snow five more inches tomorrow," he said of the Saturday forecast at Bowman Gray. "We’ll just take it as it is and just go and see what happens, Honestly, I don’t know what they’re going to do because it’s supposed to snow so much.

"This is kind of an exhibition race, but obviously we’re all taking it seriously. I’m excited to race again and just get back in the car. I’ve been out of the car since the Chili Bowl. It’s been a week or two so I’m kind of itching to get back in the car and go racing again. I just want to have some fun and go racing.

"I love the Cup car, but being able to race everything is awesome. I’m just trying to stick to that, you know? I like all of it – cycling, motocross; I like it all. I’ve been fortunate enough to grow up around almost all of it."

He's also eager to move on from a disappointing 2025 season in NASCAR.

"2025 wasn’t really a great year for us, unfortunately," he said. "We made some changes towards the end and we were running really strong at the last couple races of the year. We’re starting off this year kind of with the same deal, so I’m real excited for this year and to see how it goes. It’s all part of the process. I’m only 23, so in my fourth full-time year there has been a lot learned and want to be looking for success in 2026. I’m going to go hammer down and work hard and try to outwork these guys and beat them.

"Hopefully we can knock a couple of race wins off and maybe even more that. I also want to get into the new Chase deal. All of our guys work together really well, so we’ll just see how it all goes and stay after it from there. We obviously didn’t run good last year and really didn’t do much. That’s kind of a low. Sometimes you need that to make you stronger and to just go out there and keep figuring stuff out.

Although results were sparse, Gibbs was encouraged by how he and No. 54 team finished the 2025 campaign. Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Gibbs admits it's hard to gauge exactly where he stands in the NASCAR pack.

"There are a lot of guys. I don’t know… I race up against so many people that it’s hard for me to say. There are always people all over me in the NASCAR stuff," he said. "It’s a very diverse group of people I’m racing against. I think it’s good and it keeps you pretty sharp."

Gibbs thinks NASCAR's biggest race, the upcoming Daytona 500, might be one of his best chances.

"I think we’ve got a shot. I think everybody’s got a shot at that one," he said. "It would obviously be very big for me. It’s just different. It is it’s own deal with it’s own mystique. I think everybody knows the Daytona 500. Even the girls that don’t know anything about race cars know what the Daytona 500 is!"

And after that?

"Atlanta is pretty similar to Daytona. COTA, we’ve kind of been ahead in our road course game. We want to try and step that up and go at them on the road course. We want to try some new things and just see what we can do better. And I think I know a lot of things that I can do better from last year. Phoenix is great. Darlington, I’ve never won there and I would love to. We run really strong there. We’ve finished second there a couple of times. Just some good tracks ahead. Starting off the new season strong will be important.

"I’m growing up and just figuring it all out at a young age. There is a lot going on, but I’m so blessed in what I get to do in life. I have great people around me that make it pretty easy for me. I just have to stay after it and hammer down and keep going for it. Racing is what I love. There are some things that are involved with it that are not ideal, but I keep going at it and keep taking it is what it is. I love the race cars and I’ll just keep on going.