BROOKLYN, Mich. — A third-place result for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota didn’t come without mixed emotions after the conclusion of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Although Denny Hamlin — thanks to a savvy fuel strategy — tallied the race win, fellow JGR pilot Gibbs expressed frustration, believing there was ripe opportunity for more late-race aggression, which could have been enough to clinch the third-year Cup starter his first career premier-series victory.
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“Yeah, it’s just unfortunate because I feel like we had the capability to go do it,” Gibbs said. “I feel like we showed we were fast enough to go do it. It’s definitely frustrating, but it’s just part of it sometimes.”
Such frustrations stemmed from fuel conservation, especially during the contest’s later segments. Gibbs — who capitalized on cautions and wheeled the No. 54 to race-contending speed entering the final stage — needed to go 70-80% throttle during the final green-flag run to conserve enough fuel for the finish. Gibbs, however, expressed his desire to be more aggressive, believing the No. 54’s strategy was similar to that of the No. 11’s.
Tyler Allen, crew chief for the No. 54, had a lengthy conversation with Gibbs post-race and understood Gibbs’ mindset.
“It’s always frustrating when you have to save fuel and you can see those leaders up front,” Allen said. “I mean, I can’t imagine holding the steering wheel and watching your teammate go win the race. We were really close on fuel and we had to do what was best for our finish for the day. We’ll obviously look back and take all our measurements and see how close we were, but all of our signs were pointing to we were going to run out of fuel.
“So, he did a great job saving. You know, he’s understandably frustrated to watch that we had a fast enough car by the end to go compete for the win. So it’s one of those days that that’s racing, and feel like we made all the right decisions.”
An extended green-flag run over the final 49 laps shaped the entire field’s strategy, with a collection of drivers limiting throttle to save fuel. This included Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who led a race-high 98 laps and ran out of juice coming to the white flag. And while Hamlin took advantage, Gibbs believed his machine could have done the same.
“I was going to go until we were going to run out of fuel. I didn’t run out of fuel yet. That was my plan,” Gibbs said. “I think a win is more important than third. It’s good to have a good finish, for sure. Good to have a good day, a good comeback. We started off just very horrible. Glad we could come back and got better. Thanks for my team for sticking behind me.”
Said Allen: “He doesn’t know how much we saved or if we were going to run. So he’s frustrated because he could see it, and he was fast enough to go take it. Unfortunately, we weren’t going to make it on fuel, and that wouldn’t have done any good to our team and our point situation.”
JGR co-owner Heather Gibbs — and mother of Ty — believes the top-three result was not only a positive outcome but a learning experience, too, especially given her 22-year-old son contended with a handful of race heavyweights, including Byron and JGR teammate Hamlin.
“There’s so much to learn. I mean, it’s so hard. Sundays are hard,” Heather said. “I was talking to [Chris] Gabehart (JGR competition director) about that. It’s really hard, really hard to learn, and just so much to try to take in. All the veterans have so much experience, and in every race, you just get a little bit more knowledge and understanding and try to capitalize on it, but hopefully, the momentum will move forward. It was a great day.”
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And a great day — and weekend — it was for the No. 54; Gibbs wheeled his Toyota to the 11th-fastest practice time and eighth-best qualifying lap. The speed continued Sunday, with Gibbs’ third-place result acting as his first top five since Bristol Motor Speedway in April and second of the 2025 campaign.
With the finish, Gibbs now sits 24th in the driver standings, and with 11 regular-season races remaining, the trek toward a potential postseason berth is on for driver and team alike. This trek will continue internationally when Gibbs and the No. 54 team tackle the iconic Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez next Sunday in Mexico City (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“This team’s needed a boost over the last month, and we’ve shown the performance and really haven’t shown the results,” Allen said. “So to have the performance and the results today is really nice, and hopefully, we can get a streak going and start marching up the points.”