NASCAR: 3 potenial landing spots for Ty Gibbs in 2023
By Asher Fair
Ty Gibbs is set to continue his NASCAR career with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, but how exactly will that look? Here are three possibilities.
Ty Gibbs capped off his first full NASCAR Xfinity Series season by winning the championship at Phoenix Raceway, doing so by finding victory lane for the seventh time in 2022.
Many believe that Gibbs is set for a full-time Cup Series promotion in 2023, especially with Kyle Busch leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after 15 years to join Richard Childress Racing. Joe Gibbs is Ty’s grandfather, and he has long been seen as a shoo-in for a seat with the organization at the Cup level at some point.
But will that promotion indeed happen in 2023? Here are three possibilities for the 20-year-old Charlotte, North Carolina native next year.
3 potential landing spots for Ty Gibbs: No. 1 – #18 Toyota (Cup, full-time)
The obvious option for Gibbs next year is the #18 Toyota as Busch’s replacement, and while Busch’s departure was confirmed two months ago now, this is still seen as the most likely outcome.
Joe Gibbs Racing stated at the time that they would be announcing their plans for the #18 car at a later date, and that date could very well be very, very late. Let’s not forget that they waited until the week the 2022 Xfinity Series season began to confirm Gibbs as the full-time driver of the #54 Toyota.
But it is worth mentioning that Joe Gibbs Racing’s initial plan for Ty was for him to run two full seasons in the Xfinity Series for a Cup Series promotion, and he hasn’t done that.
Will the fact that he unexpectedly got the opportunity to make 15 Cup Series starts as the replacement for the injured Kurt Busch at the Joe Gibbs Racing-affiliated 23XI Racing speed up the process? Having not exactly lit the world on fire with a top finish of 10th place in his 15 starts, that is a question that still needs to be answered.