NASCAR CUP SERIES: CHALLENGE ROUND 2 - GRANT PARK 165

July 6, 2025

Ty Gibbs

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're going to start here with our post-race availabilities. We've been joined by Ty Gibbs. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Ty, hell of a run for you out there today. What did you have to do to get through the field and get up there and challenge?

TY GIBBS: We had a -- my team called a great strategy and got me in position to get me up front to compete for the win. It worked out for us today, so I'm glad to have a good finish, but we wish we could have gone for the win.

Q. Right there at the end, obviously there was a (indiscernible)?

TY GIBBS: Yeah, I would have been all for that 100 percent, but I think the 51 was like underneath the K-rail over there. So I don't know. That would have been awesome, though.

Q. Even before the restart that you didn't get at the end, the one that you did have, you have to make a calculation in terms of how hard do I want to push this or do I just want to go shove this guy out of the way. You raced him cleanly. What is that ethically in your mind to try to do something there or not or wait or whatever?

TY GIBBS: Well, it really depends on the restart zone because it's right in that last corner, and the dude on the outside gets shafted every single time. If you watch every one of them, the inside guy wins almost every time.

He just got a good enough gap, had a good restart. I had a little bit of rear tire degradation that didn't really help me on my launch as well off the corner.

Just got a good gap and got away from me.

Q. (Indiscernible.)

TY GIBBS: Yeah, I think if I got a better start or the outside -- the outside is the less preferred lane on the racetrack, also on the start because there's just not as much grip.

Maybe if he had a hiccup and slide his right front tire, maybe I could have stayed on the outside of him.

Q. You advance into the end of season tournament. You see Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace had a compelling duel with about six laps left. Do you see the intensity picking up in the in-season tournament?

TYGIBBS: Yeah, to be honest with you, I didn't really know who I was racing before I even -- until after the race. So I guess I'm in the next round. I don't know much about the in-season tournament. It's kind of like, for me, we're kind of competing for wins. But I think it's a million bucks, if I'm correct, so that would be sweet.

I really don't know that much about it, but cool to see that we're in the next round of it. I don't know how many more rounds there are. I didn't really know who I was racing until after the race.

Q. You guys are all really naturally competitive. I would imagine it stands to reason that if there's something to race for, you guys are going to go for it?

TY GIBBS: Yeah, I don't know. We'll see.