Ty Gibbs claimed a second-place result in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. For Gibbs it was his first experience at the unique South Florida speedway. With the runner-up result, Gibbs is now 30 points above the cut line heading to the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville Speedway next weekend. Toyota drivers Trevor Bayne (sixth) and Chandler Smith (seventh) also scored top-10 finishes. For Smith, it was his debut in the series racing for Sam Hunt Racing. Playoff contender and Toyota driver Brandon Jones (15th) will be in a must-win scenario at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4 battle.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Race 31 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Noah Gragson*
2nd, TY GIBBS
3rd, AJ Allmendinger*
4th, Daniel Hemric*
5th, Sam Mayer*
6th, TREVOR BAYNE
7th, CHANDLER SMITH
15th, BRANDON JONES
29th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
How close were you to being able to battle Noah Gragson for the win?
“We were just battling our race car all day. We were just a little out of the track. We made great adjustments and my guys never gave up. Thank you to my whole Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra group. We’ll move on to Martinsville. I feel like that was a place we were really fast last year and probably had a shot to win at. I’m excited to go back. Thank you to Interstate Batteries and everyone at Monster – thank you for all you do and for allowing me to be there.”
How challenging was this race track with it being your first time at Homestead?
“I feel like we were just battling all day. I gave it my all here. This place is pretty tough. I feel like we were battling the car a little bit, which makes it harder. Come out with a P2 finish and we’re plus 30 so I think that’s pretty strong.”
Being 30 points to the good, how do you feel going into Martinsville?
“I feel good and I’m excited about it. We’ll go hammer down.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Jeld-Wen Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
Are you in a must-win scenario for Martinsville next weekend to make the Championship 4 in Phoenix?
“Probably. There were no stage points today really for us and not a great finish there. I’m assuming the majority of the guys we’re fighting finished ahead of us. This wasn’t the day we were expecting to have. Yesterday after practice, we were going to have plenty of speed and thought we could contend for the win today. I think 13th was the best we had today and that’s frustrating. There’s some things that once we got in that long green flag session there that I kind of started to hone in on, it wasn’t things that we had the tools to fix in the race. It needed to be kind of a rehaul in the setup. Surprised by the result for sure and next week is a totally different place and I feel confident there.”
After winning Martinsville in the spring, how do you feel going back there in a must-win situation?
“I think it’s going to be really good. I think we still have some momentum after today and after qualifying so good and having a good starting spot, that’s going to help with our pit selection there. Winning there gives us so much confidence coming back and being a short track, it’s not so much aero dependent and some of these things that affect the mile-and-a-halves. I see us having a really, really good day next week.”
