Ty Gibbs is not new to controversy. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Ty Gibbs lost his cool on the track again, and this time some innocent bystanders were nearly injured.
Brad Keselowski says teenagers shouldn’t be in the Cup series and Gibbs should have been suspended. Gibbs, the grandson of NFL legend and NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs, is considered a rising star. Ty Gibbs is making a lot of enemies in his rapid ascent up the NASCAR ranks, and one former champ says it is because he is too young to be competing in the top level of stock car racing.
Gibbs, who races for Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing, lost his cool on pit road at Texas Motor Speedway and nearly caused another driver to hit some innocent bystanders working on a stopped car. Veteran driver Brad Keselowski blamed NASCAR for allowing a 19-year-old into the top series and said Gibbs should have been suspended, considering this wasn’t his first transgression. The latest incident occurred as Gibbs, who is filling in for the injured Kurt Busch in the 23 car, was traveling down pit road and was hit by Ty Dillon as he exited his pit box.
Gibbs retaliated by slamming into Dillon’s car and forcing him to brake hard to avoid hitting NASCAR officials and pit crew members working on the broken car of Chris Buescher. You can see the contact near the top of the screen here. Cars are traveling about 55 mph down pit road.
—Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) September 26, 2022Keselowski, a co-owner of Buescher’s car, was a guest on NASCAR Race Hub and discussed the incident. While explaining the immense danger presented in that situation — “[crew members and officials] nearly got run over,” he said — the 2012 champ said he feels the bigger problem is young drivers not having enough time at lower levels to learn these lessons. “Ultimately, what I see here is a teenage kid who is working his way through it,” Keselowski said.
“He’s making mistakes on the biggest stage in our sport, and it’s a really difficult situation. I can’t be mad at Ty. I did a lot dumber things when I was a teenager, but I wasn’t on this stage.
So this goes to a bigger problem of why we don’t really need teenagers at this level because this is not the place to learn those lessons. “Keselowski was 25 when he made his NASCAR Cup Series debut. While Gibbs is a talented driver and considered a rising star, his rapid ascent in the sport is often credited to being the grandson of NFL coaching legend and NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs.
NASCAR fined Gibbs $75,000 for the incident and docked Jordan’s 23XI Racing 25 points in the owners’ championship. Keselowski thinks Gibbs should have been suspended. “I think this penalty is not severe enough,” Keselowski said.
“I think we’re to the point now where, when you have the body of work that Ty Gibbs has here, it’s time to take a race off and send a strong message here, ‘We’re not doing this on pit road, guys. ‘ These people have families. They’re exposed to being hit by a car at 50 mph.
And it’s not just crew members. It’s officials too. This has to stop right now.
“The “body of work” Keselowski is referring to includes a post-race fight early this year following an Xfinity race and another race where he shoved his own teammate out of the way for a win. Read the original article on Insider.
From: insider
URL: https://www.insider.com/nascar-wreck-teenagers-ty-gibbs-brad-keselowski-2022-9
