Ty Gibbs came up just one corner short Friday night at Martinsville. And wasn’t happy about it.
Gibbs from pole, led a race-high 198 laps, won Stage 1 and survived several late race restarts. The last one however, proved to be his undoing.
After a red flag period to clean up a multicar crash on the first attempt at an overtime finish, Gibbs dueled with teammate Brandon Jones. On the final lap as Gibbs banged doors with Sam Mayer, Jones slid by for his first win of the season and the fifth of his career.
Landon Cassill also got by for a career high second place, while AJ Allmendinger was third and took home a $100,000 bonus as the highest finishing Dash 4 Cash driver.
Mayer was scored fifth, Gibbs eighth.
After the race Gibbs confronted Mayer and soon punches were being thrown.
“I tried to talk to him, and he got all in my face,” Gibbs said. “At that point we’ve got to start fighting. Only thing I’m made about is he wouldn’t have gotten past the 16 there, and he just kept driving until the end.”
Mayer, sporting a bruised eye, said Gibbs started the confrontation.
“He walked over to me; he made the first move,” Mayer said. “I wasn’t going to say anything, I didn’t do anything wrong, I mean all I did was put the bumper to him like he’s been doing the last couple of weeks to everybody and obviously it’s really one-sided. But that’s okay I’m just going to keep my head down and do my own thing and move forward.”
The JR Motorsports driver made no apologies for the way he raced.
“I got there and had a taste of a hundred grand and I’m going to take it,” he said. “All I did was put the bumper to him, me moved up the racetrack; then he threw a couple punches, that’s on him not me; it’s his decision to make to start that I’m just going to keep my head down and keep doing what I’m doing
“He’s going to put the bumper to everyone else in the garage and expect nothing in return, it doesn’t make any dang sense. I’m just going to do it to him, that’s what short track racing is all about, unless it’s to him I guess.”
“He can throw all the punches he wants, they’re weak as hell; it doesn’t bother me. I didn’t feel a thing.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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