Denny Hamlin led a race-high 292 laps and appeared to be on his way to a seventh win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. That is, until a bold pit call from crew chief Alan Gustafson and a timely caution flag gave Chase Elliott the track position he needed to hold Hamlin off and earn his first win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
While many fans have called Gustafson out for not making race-winning calls, he disproved that notion and deserves all the praise for a strategy that nobody else thought of.
But just a few positions behind Elliott and Hamlin in Sunday's 400-lap race at Martinsville was Ty Gibbs, someone else who has faced a lot of scrutiny from the fanbase.
It is no secret that the 2022 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (then Xfinity Series) champion has not had the best start to his Cup career. Although he improved his average finish from 18.4 during his rookie season to 17.4 the following campaign, Gibbs struggled again in 2025 and missed the playoffs for the second time in his first three full seasons.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFans were quick to point to the fact that he is Joe Gibbs' grandson and only got the ride because of nepotism as soon as he first arrived on the scene. His performance has only amplified the noise and doubts regarding his talent level and if he truly belongs in the car.
If the past five races are any indication, Gibbs is not only proving those people wrong, but he is likely closer to a win than most would like to believe.
Ty Gibbs is off to a consistent start to 2026
Gibbs understandably finished outside the top 20 in each of the first two races at Daytona International Speedway (23rd) and EchoPark Speedway (37th). Considering the unpredictable nature of superspeedway racing and how easy it is to get wiped out in someone else's mess, it was not a surprise to see him struggle.
But a fourth place finish at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) the following weekend began a stretch of five consecutive top six finishes for Gibbs. Since then, he has added two more fourth place finishes at Phoenix Raceway and Martinsville, a fifth place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and a sixth place finish at Darlington Raceway. It's the longest such streak of his career.
Gibbs also posted five consecutive top 10 finishes in 2024, but he is entering uncharted territory with his current run as the series heads into its off weekend for Easter. For him to turn those consistent runs into wins, Gibbs said he believes the No. 54 team just needs a little bit more.
"Obviously, we're pretty close, but just need a little bit more," Gibbs said, per NASCAR.com's Zach Sturniolo. "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."
Gibbs is not just showing up at the end of these races and making something out of nothing, either. His 12.98 average running position is eighth best in the series through seven races. During his five-race stretch of top six finishes, his average running position has been inside the top five, highlighted by a second-best 3.38 in Sunday's race at Martinsville.
For someone who has never finished better than 15th in the final standings, it has been an impressive start; Gibbs is currently sixth, 64 points above the cut line. Furthermore, Gibbs is on pace for his best average finish (11.9), nearly six spots better than his previous career-best (17.4) if it holds up.
That first win may not be far away as the series prepares to make the trek to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 12. Gibbs has four top 10 finishes in six starts at 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) Tennessee oval, and his 440 laps led there, including at least 100 in three of the past five races, are his most at any track.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Gibbs' current stretch is the fact that his five consecutive top six finishes have come at vastly different tracks, and four of those tracks, COTA, Phoenix, Darlington, and Martinsville, featured the new rules package. If that momentum carries over following the break and Gibbs continues to be in the mix, it should be only a matter of time before he claims his first Cup Series win.