In the season finale at Phoenix in 2022, Ty Gibbs did not just secure a win, but also the Xfinity Series championship. This helped him earn a promotion to a full-time seat at the Cup level for JGR. However, four seasons later, Phoenix remains Gibbs’ most recent win in NASCAR. While his performances have frustrated fans, NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick has a different view about the #54 driver.

Kevin Harvick sees a milestone achievement for Ty Gibbs on the horizon

During a recent episode of the Happy Hour podcast, Kevin Harvick spoke about Ty Gibbs amid his current form in 2026. After starting the year on a disappointing note with 23rd and 37th at Daytona and Atlanta, Gibbs has finished inside the top-5 everywhere except at Darlington, where he finished 6th.

Harvick claimed this consistency is something that has ‘brewed’ from last season. In fact, he said that the start of last season made him question if Gibbs was driving a JGR car at all, something which isn’t the case this year, as is reflected in his top-5 finishes.

“I think that when you can get that top five consistency, you’re going to win a race because you’re in the mix, you’ve got the speed, you’re qualifying well, and you’re finishing and that means the pit stops are going well, you’re going down pit road well, you’re having good restarts and all those things,” Kevin Harvick described.

Last season, Gibbs had zero top 5 finishes at this stage of the year. His highest finish was 13th at Martinsville, with his first top 5 coming at Bristol in the ninth race of the season. But the story is much different this year after a poor start. He has already had almost as many top-5 finishes this year (4) as he did in the whole of last year (5), which Kevin Harvick believes is a great sign.

Gibbs’ hot start continued at Martinsville as he finished fourth at the track. Probably in his best run of form since becoming a Cup Series driver, the youngster is confident in being able to get to a win this season.

Ty Gibbs feels confident of winning more than one race in 2026

On the back of his four top-five finishes in the last five races, Ty Gibbs is confident of winning his elusive first Cup race for JGR.

Speaking after his 4th place finish at Martinsville, he said, “Obviously, we’re pretty close, but just need a little bit more. I think if you keep playing up there, you’re gonna win eventually. So just keep to it and keep running good and go knock off that win and hopefully get a couple wins this year.”

His crew chief, Tyler Allen, also spoke about the major reason behind Gibbs’ increased consistency this year. He claimed that he’s able to have ‘hard discussions’ when needed at the track based on how the car is doing with his driver. “His awareness of inputs and how that affects tires and tire wear and tire temperature is night-and-day better from what we had a year ago,” Allen said.

With that said, it’ll be interesting to see how Ty Gibbs performs in the coming races and whether he finally gets his first Cup win. His first chance of doing that would be at Bristol, a racetrack he’s had four top 10 finishes at in the past.