Ty Gibbs uses bump and run to earn first ARCA victory

Ty Gibbs, the 16-year-old grandson of JGR owner Joe Gibbs, nudged race leader Sam Mayer out of the way on the final lap and held on to win Saturday’s ARCA race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

Gibbs restarted eighth with six laps remaining after pitting during the final caution but made his way to second with three to go. Gibbs and Mayer made contact in the Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap with Gibbs taking the checkered flag and Mayer finishing third.

“He overdrove it into (Turns) 3 and 4 and gave me that shot and we’re at a short track so you might as well take it. It’s for the win and that’s pretty big,” Ty said. “It’s a hard deal, but it’s been a long day.

“I come to the track every week with the same determination and mentality to win the race. Every single weekend we run as hard as we can. We are super excited to get that first win.”

As expected Mayer was not happy with how the final lap played out.

“I didn’t get passed,” Mayer said. “We had a fifth or sixth place car and we ended up third, so that’s good. But we were leading at the white flag. But we didn’t get passed on the last lap, we got moved on the last lap.”

Christian Eckes ended up second, Corey Heim was fourth and Carson Hocevar ended up fifth.

Ty’s father, Coy, and grandfather were on hand for his first series victory.

“I’ve been lucky to see a lot of really special moments in both football and in racing, but this is up there near the top,” he said. “We had a lot of success in football, and I thought Denny (Hamlin) winning the Daytona 500 with J.D. on the car was as good as it could get.

“But this is really special. When that last caution came out and we restarted eighth I was just – I was really discouraged. But he did a great job. It’s just special we can all be here to see this.”