Much like last week and the week before that, Joe Gibs Racing Toyotas were taking the fight to its competition here at Bristol Motor Speedway. While Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr were running at the top, racing for the lead, their youngest teammate, Ty Gibbs, also joined the party, hanging in with the elite drivers to prove his mettle. However, a pit lane slip-up from the JGR crew got the young gun’s hopes of a first Cup Series win in the drains.

Joe Gibbs Racing crew does it again as a pit-road slip-up gets Ty Gibbs off the top

2022 Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs is on a roll this year, Out of the past four races, the phenom has racked up four top 10s and 2 top 5s finishes and currently is the third-ranked driver in the points standings just behind his veteran teammate Martin Truex Jr and two positions above Denny Hamlin. The #54 Toyota has the pace and speed to see the driver through to the victory lane but the team’s pit lane slip-up took the driver further down the ladder.

In fact, after capturing the lead in lap 120, the young 21-year-old phenom claimed stage 1, picking up precious stage points in the process. However, once the race changed gears, it advanced into stage 2.

While Joe Gibbs’ grandson looked strong, a careless pit stop changed his course. In lap 181, 10 laps after he took the top position from the outside, he decided to pit in an effort to get more wind behind this sail, but instead, a pit lane interference did the driver dirty, taking away the momentum, thus costing him valuable stage positions.

During the pit stop, while changing the right front tire, one of the crew members who wasn’t stipulated to cross over the wall did so and blocked the path of Trackhouse Racing‘s #99 team and the neighboring pit crew’s path. This prompted the organization to step in and hand the #54 an interference penalty.

A brief on Gibbs’ stellar Bristol run

While Gibbs couldn’t rack up his first career win at the venue, he led 137 laps and swept the stages en route to a top 10 finish, coming across the line ninth, bettering his position among the veterans at the top of the standings races to start the 2024 season. After running 57 laps upfront last weekend at Phoenix, Gibbs sits third in the laps-led category for the Cup Series, spending 194 circuits out front so far this year.

Despite missing the playoffs last year by a whisker, the youngster is one of the most consistent drivers this year with some analysts even deeming Gibbs a championship contender. Retired SHR veteran and Fox’s new commentator Kevin Harvick is a firm believer of Gibbs and has admitted that is on board the Ty Gibbs hype train, even saying that the driver will certainly pick up a win this season.

READ MORE: Ty Gibbs Sweeps Stage One as Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch Succumb to Goodyear and Bristol Resin’s Unfavorable Pairing

With the action headed to Circuit of The Americas on Sunday, Gibbs is looking for a similar effort to 2023, where he finished ninth. He was also ninth at Richmond last spring, proving that there is a positive outlook for the next two weeks for the #54 team.