“He’s got the talent—it’s about putting it all together.” Joe Gibbs said about his Ty Gibbs making his move to the No. 54 car in the Cup Series. It’s a line that blends faith with a nudge, talent alone won’t cut it; execution does. For Ty, now 22 and hauling the weight of the Gibbs legacy, that wisdom hits hard. In NASCAR, where fans cheer heroes and roast underperformers with equal gusto. And for the time being, Ty has found himself on the bitter end of the stick when it comes to his relationship with the fans.
Ty Gibbs arrived with a bang, clinching the 2022 Xfinity Series championship with 10 wins at just 20 years old. Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), he seemed destined to carry the family torch. But his Cup Series leap has been a struggle, which has come to light after his rookie year in 2023. Last year wasn’t entirely a disappointment for Gibbs as he made his way to the playoffs. But how he fell off in the later part of the season was concerning, in the final five starts during the playoffs he finished P30 or worse. And, a similar trend can be seen in the first five races of the 2025 season.
Fans who once cheered his potential now vent online, their patience thinning. Ty’s recent detour into sprint car racing, a daring, dirt-track venture, has only fueled the fire, with many questioning his focus on NASCAR’s top tier. Social media buzzes with barbs like “Xfinity Lifer,” amplifying the pressure on the young racer. What can Ty do differently to a corner for good? Well, if we are to go by Kenny Wallace’s advice, he feels Ty should drop his interest in sprint car racing.
Thanks to Joe Gibbs, the JGR drivers are allowed to race in non-NASCAR events. You saw that Christopher Bell benefitted a ton from this. After his triumph at Tusla Shootout, he’s gone on to bag three Cup wins. But, the same cannot be said for Ty Gibbs, who made his sprint car debut in High Limit Racing’s event in Las Vegas.
Sharing his take over Ty’s new adventure in racing, Wallace while speaking on Herm & Schrader said, “I’m like Ty, Grandpa’s stopping from doing that right now. He’s too young, the Cup Series not going right, right now. Let’s hit the reset button, I know it’s not my room to speak but I care about him… I love you Ty, this is not derogatory, I’m just worried about you.”
LONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA – JULY 14: Ty Gibbs, driver of the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, waits on the grid prior to the NASCAR Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.com at Pocono Raceway on July 14, 2024 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)
Although it seems as if nothing is working out in favor of Ty Gibbs or the No. 54 team, Jordan Bianchi believes that he can still win a race this season. His prediction came after Josh Berry won his Cup race with Wood Brothers Racing in Las Vegas. Therefore, with top-tier equipment at JGR, Gibbs is always going to be in the running to get a surprise win.
“Two obvious names to me that jump out are Ty Gibbs and Carson Hocevar. I would say Ty Gibbs just because he’s with Joe Gibbs Racing. I know he’s in a slump and this isn’t his season right now, but when you’re with Joe Gibbs Racing, you can turn it around on a dime.” Bianchi said this on PRNLive.
Well, Ty Gibbs isn’t the only driver to have the weight of his family’s racing legacy. There have been some great drivers who had to go through a similar rough patch before they could live up to their potential.
Young Ty can lean on NASCAR’s best talent
Ty Gibbs may be catching flak from fans and critics, but the NASCAR Cup Series has never been an easy stage for young drivers to conquer right out of the gate. At just 22, Ty is backed by the powerhouse of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), a team with a knack for turning raw talent into champions. Sure, his last name carries weight, but it’s the resources and mentorship around him that give him a real shot at success. The thing is, even the most hyped-up rookies often hit roadblocks before they hit their stride. Drivers like Chase Elliott, Harrison Burton, and Kyle Petty each with their own famous lineage prove that early struggles don’t define a career. Their journeys show why fans should ease up on Ty and give him room to grow into the driver he’s capable of becoming.
Chase Elliott burst onto the Cup Series scene in 2016 as the son of 1988 champ Bill Elliott and fresh off an Xfinity Series title in 2014. The hype was real, but wins didn’t come easy. His rookie year was a rollercoaster: he notched 10 top-five finishes matching Denny Hamlin’s 2005 rookie record and led 103 laps at the Daytona 500, only to crash out after a scrape with Matt DiBenedetto, finishing 37th. In 2016, he also led 39 laps at Michigan but faded to second behind Joey Logano, hinting at his potential but exposing his inexperience. The heartbreak peaked at Martinsville in 2017: Elliott led 123 of the final 150 laps, battling Kyle Busch door-to-door, until Denny Hamlin bumped him with three laps left, triggering a spin and a 27th-place finish as Busch stole the win.
Fans booed Hamlin off the track, but Elliott’s resilience shone through. His redemption came on August 5, 2018, at Watkins Glen. In his 99th start, Elliott led 52 of 90 laps, fending off a furious late charge from Busch whose car ran out of fuel on the final lap to claim his first victory at age 22. That win sparked a run of 15 victories over the next five seasons, including the 2020 Cup title. Elliott’s early struggles crashes, spins, and near-misses mirror the growing pains Ty’s facing now, but his Watkins Glen triumph proves patience pays dividends.
Harrison Burton, son of NASCAR stalwart Jeff Burton, entered the Cup Series in 2022 with Wood Brothers Racing, a storied team allied with Penske but lacking JGR’s deep pockets. His rookie season showed flashes of brilliance amid a sea of inconsistency. Burton logged four top-10s, with his highlight coming at the Indianapolis Road Course on July 31, 2022. He qualified 12th, ran in the top five late, and crossed the line third behind Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney—his first podium in 20 starts. But the lows were brutal: six DNFs, including a Lap 1 wreck at Talladega (34th) and a mid-race crash at Charlotte (35th), dragged his average finish to 21.6. In 2023, the struggles deepened Burton mustered just one top-10 (fifth at Darlington) and finished 31st in points, his worst full-season mark. Doubts swirled, but 2024 flipped the script.
At Daytona on August 24, Burton started 20th in a chaotic, overtime-fueled race. He dodged a multi-car pileup on Lap 152, surged past Kyle Busch in the final moments, and held off a charging Parker Retzlaff to win by 0.047 seconds his first victory in his 80th start at age 23. That Daytona glory, after 79 starts of grinding through wrecks and mid-pack runs, underscores how perseverance can turn a shaky start into a defining moment. Burton’s path, though slower than Elliott’s, shows that even modest resources can yield results with time.
Kyle Petty’s Cup Series debut came in 1979 at age 19, as the son of seven-time champ Richard Petty and grandson of pioneer Lee Petty. The pressure was immense, but his early years were a masterclass in persistence. In his first full season in 1981, driving for Petty Enterprises, he ran 31 races with a single top-10 and a ninth at Nashville on July 11, where he started 17th and clawed his way forward on the short track. His average finish that year? A pedestrian 19.2. The next four seasons were more of the same: occasional top-10s (like a fifth at Rockingham in 1984) drowned out by finishes in the teens and 20s. By 1985, after 127 starts, Petty had zero wins. His breakthrough finally hit on February 23, 1986, at Richmond.
Ty Gibbs is younger than Chase Elliott (22), Harrison Burton (23), and Kyle Petty (26) were when they notched their first Cup wins, yet his resume already outshines theirs at a similar stage. So perhaps, a bit more patience and experience is what the young driver needs as of now. It’s not always about the equipment, it is about the driver, we saw that with Josh Berry last weekend at Vegas.
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