Ty Gibbs / No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra Preview Indianapolis 150

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.

No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra News and Notes

·         THREE WINS: Saturday’s 150 mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course will be Ty Gibbs’ 11^th career NASCAR Xfinity Series start, but he has already racked up three wins. He scored a win in his series debut in February at the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, in May at Charlotte Motor Speedway and last week at Watkins Glen International. He has scored one pole position (Elkhart Lake) and eight top-five finishes and has led 135 laps in just 10 starts.

·         WHAT A DEBUT: In Gibbs’ Xfinity Series debut at the Daytona Road Course, he led 14 of the 56 laps en route to his first career Xfinity Series win. Gibbs became the youngest driver to win a Xfinity road course race at 18 years, 4 months, 16 days. The Charlotte, N.C., native also became the second-youngest winner in Xfinity Series history after Joey Logano who won in June 2008 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta when he was 18 years and 21 days old. 

·         IN GOOD COMPANY: Gibbs is the sixth driver to win in his Xfinity Series debut, joining Dale Earnhardt, Joe Ruttman, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte and Kurt Busch.

·         A TITLE IN MIND: While Gibbs is set to compete in 14 Xfinity races in 2021, he is competing fulltime in the ARCA Menards Series where he is first in points, and has scored wins at Phoenix International Raceway, Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mid-Ohio, Iowa Speedway and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.

·         GIBBS 2021 SCHEDULE: In 2021, Gibbs will compete for an ARCA Championship and in 14 Xfinity races, who also attempting to win the Xfinity Sunoco Rookie of the Year award. His remaining Xfinity schedule includes: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (August 14), Michigan International Speedway (August 21), Richmond Raceway (September 11), Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (October 9) and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (October 23). 

·         GIBBS IN 2020: Gibbs captured an ARCA Menards Series-high six wins in 2020, despite only running a partial schedule. He also scored 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his 16 starts last season to help claim the organization’s first ARCA Menards Series Owner’s Championship.

·         ATOP THE PIT BOX: Veteran crew chief Chris Gayle will oversee the No. 54 team’s efforts this weekend. Gale, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, has led his drivers to two NASCAR Cup Series victories and 28 Xfinity Series wins. The list of drivers Gayle has visited victory lane with includes Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish Jr., Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler and Christopher Bell.

·         JGR AT INDIANAPOLIS: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has just three total starts at the Indianapolis road course in Xfinity competition.    

·         RACE INFO: The Indianapolis 150 is scheduled for 4 pm EDT on Saturday, Aug. 14 and will be broadcast on NBCSN, SiriusXM Channel 90 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway radio network.

Ty Gibbs, Driver of the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra

“The road course at Indianapolis is a track I haven’t been too before, so I look forward to going there. Obviously, the tradition and history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is huge. Almost every great race driver has driven there and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully we can keep our streak of good finishes going with Chris Gale the guys on the 54 team. I know they will bring a great Sport Clips Toyota Supra. I’d love to get another strong finish and continue to help them out in the owner title championship chase.”

Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Sport Clips Toyota Supra

“I’m looking forward to going to Indy and racing the road course this week. I love going to Indy and racing the big track, but this will be the first time getting to experience the road course. The track is a great mix of some very slow tight areas with a few fast areas getting onto the oval section. So a little more of a mix of slow and fast than Watkins Glen. Obviously Ty has been very strong at all the road course events this season, so we’re excited as a team to be going to another, especially with practice and qualifying for this event. Indy has a very narrow pit road compared to most tracks, so securing the first pit stall from last weeks win will help tremendously. Another road course event, and another chance to run really strong and contend for the win. So should be exciting.”

Gibbs 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats

Gibbs ARCA Series Career Stats

About Sport Clips 

Sport Clips Haircuts is headquartered in Georgetown, Texas. It was established in 1993 and began franchising in 1995. The sports-themed haircutting franchise, which specializes in haircuts for men and boys, offers online check in for clients, and ranks #17 in the Entrepreneur “Franchise 500” for 2021 and is listed in Franchise Direct’s 2021 “Top 100 Global Franchises”. There are more than 1,850 Sport Clips stores open in the U.S. and Canada. Sport Clips is the “Official Haircutter” of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), offers veterans preferential pricing on haircuts and franchises, and was named a 2019 Top Franchise for Veterans by Entrepreneur. Sport Clips provides “Haircuts with Heart” through its annual Help A Hero fundraiser that has contributed $8.7 million to the VFW; national partnership with St. Baldrick’s Foundation, the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants; and other national and local philanthropic outreach. Sport Clips is a proud sponsor of NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing team; Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan IndyCar driver Ed Jones; and partners with other NCAA and professional sports teams. To learn more about Sport Clips, visit sportclips.com. 

 About Joe Gibbs Racing:

Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR with four NASCAR Cup Series teams, four NASCAR Xfinity Series teams, an ARCA Menards Series team, and a driver development program. Its 2021 driver lineup will consist of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell in the NASCAR Cup Series. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton, and Daniel Hemric will each run fulltime in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021. Ty Gibbs will compete fulltime in the ARCA Menards Series while running a partial schedule in the Xfinity Series along with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr. and Ty Dillon. JGR is based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Joe Gibbs, who also earned his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was named as one of the NFL’s top 10 coaches of all-time with a winning career that included three Super Bowl Championships as head coach of the Washington Football Team. JGR has competed in NASCAR since 1992, winning five Cup Series championships and five Xfinity Series owner’s championships, along with more than 350 NASCAR races, including four Brickyard 400s and four Daytona 500s.

 -JGR-