Story By: SAM MAHONEY / TOYOTA RACING – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs was made available to the media prior to the Daytona 500 on Wednesday.
TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you talk about being back at the Daytona 500?
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. This is a really great race and of course something that I’d love to win eventually. It’s a fun one, fun week. So, we’ll see how it goes.”
What’s this offseason been like for yourself? How do you process everything from last year and apply it to improve this year?
“Yeah, I think the improvement is just taking time off. I think that’s really important for success and progress throughout the ranks, talking to people who have done stuff and been a part of a long journey in sports and business, it’s important to take time off. That was really good for me. Just kind of fixing some things that I needed to fix last year.”
What are some of the most impactful lessons you got from the process?
“I think just learning how to relax and recover during different times where you want to work hard and stay up. But sleep is very important, staying in the gym is important too, right? Just for your mind. Controlling yourself at a young age. Taking time to recover.”
You went to the Waste Management Open last weekend. Is there anything from a fan point-of-view there that you think could be taken to NASCAR?
“I miss watching the races, and just being a kid and watching the races, that’s what I miss. I said that to someone. I remember coming down here for the Daytona 500, flying down with my cousins for the day to go watch the race while I was running ARCA or Late Models. So, those are times I miss sometimes. But of course, I’d rather be racing in the Daytona 500. It does make you appreciate the journey of growing up.”
How do you spend rain delays?
“There are sometimes when I’ll go see – if we’re in the middle of the race and I was struggling in some spot, I’ll look and see where I could get better at. My team sends me some stuff or I look myself. That’s for races that have already started. Otherwise, I usually just hang out. I eat well and try to hydrate the proper way.”
What do you feel like were some of the biggest lessons you took away from the last superspeedway races?
“What I’ve taken away is just being there at the end is really important and not rushing it. I think there’s a lot of times I’ve been in a great position, but made some mistakes on fuel mileage, like Talladega last year when we were leading. There’s just a lot of things you learn growing up, and of course some stuff I can’t really talk about either. You kind of just learn a lot. It’s always hard to aim and say one thing I’ve learned.”
What do you mean by making mistakes on fuel mileage?
“I was just using an unnecessary amount of throttle to stay up front when I didn’t need to and I had someone pushing me in the draft. I didn’t help my fuel mileage out there.”
How do you figure that out and take that into the car for a race?
“We have SMT, so I can look at my throttle trace compared to let’s say Ryan Blaney who was on the inside of me in that race. I can look at his and mine, and we had the same equal amount of lines and yet he’s going 30% throttle, 40%, and I’m going 90%. You just learn.”
Is there something in the sim where you can feel with your foot what 30% throttle is?
“Yeah, you can. Sometimes, it honestly depends on the day, but sometimes we have a little thing on the dash that tells us how much throttle we’re putting in so that helps too.”
What do you anticipate that can take you to victory lane this year?
“I think it’s just experience and time with the setups because we’re really new. We’re a year behind on that and just tweaking the setup to where I need it to be for long races. That’s the biggest gameplan on that.”
How has your feel changed or not changed over the last few years?
“Yeah, it’s improved tremendously. Just more time in the car and more experience. Experience is really important. I came from driving basically the same car almost my whole life to something completely different. You just learn a lot through this whole time. I’m basically in an IndyCar with a stock car body, basically. I think Kyle Larson said it was really close. It’s just really different. You just learn, you have experience and it helps.”
Is coming back here for a second time allow you to know what you need coming out of this week?
“Yeah, I’ve experienced media days enough now to where they’re not exciting. It’s just more experience, and I think it was my rookie season going into the Daytona 500 (last year), of course a lot is going on really quickly. And then the year previous, I’m running ARCA full-time. So, it was a big jump. But, you just learn enough and experienced enough. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that I have to be able to do what I do.”
Where do you feel you’ve grown the most since the beginning of last year?
“I don’t think I could name one specific area, I think everything just improved. Just experience. That’s all I say, experience, but it’s true.”
What do you learn from any conflict experiences and what do you take away from it?
“Yeah, it’s the same as life or in business too, right? Not going to make everyone happy. Just learn where you can get better at and then once you figure out – I can get better as a driver in these specific areas and I do start running better and you’re like ‘Well I run better every single week now. If I just suck it up this weekend and not run as good because my car isn’t as capable then I’ll just run great next weekend.’ You don’t want to hurt yourself in the long run and look at the bigger picture. I think that’s the best way to say that.”
How do you learn to be more patient and not always expect to win?
“I never looked at like, ‘I have to win this. I have to win this. I have to win this.’ I just kind of want to win every race, but I didn’t really stress out about it. It’s not going to ruin my life if I don’t win this race or I don’t win a championship. It just doesn’t ruin my life. I’m not really emotionally attached to it, so I just treat it as job and stay even keeled with my emotions. I want to go win this race, but if I can’t, I’m going to do the best I can. I don’t think there’s any other way to do it, to be honest with you.”
What do you take from the confrontation at the Clash and what do you think you did well?
“Yeah, I mean I’ve definitely been in positions to handle stuff like that. I think it just happens, it’s part of life in getting in confrontations. Sometimes it’s not your fault, sometimes it is. You just learn over time and kind of mature, of course I’m 21 right? I’m young for that. I’ve dealt with that my whole life with my brothers and cousins, kind of fought each other in a sibling way. Just learning over time. You get older and you learn how it is. You’re always changing. It’s not going to be how I am the rest of my life.”
With your mom playing a bigger role in the team, what do you think about what she’s able to do?
“Yeah, I think she does a really great job. Of course, I love my mom and it’s really cool to have her there and for her to be a part of it is really special. We’re a family sport and it’s really good to be a part of.”
At the Clash, you were the dominant car. What was the process of moving on from the disappointment and moving onto this week?
“Well, we ran very well. But that race isn’t a points race, so really doesn’t matter if I finish last. We really capitalized on everything, I just need to do my job a little better. I’m happy as I know I can fix that stuff and I have before.”
Was that some kind of statement to watch out for you and the 54 team this year?
“I don’t really know, I don’t really care. Just want to go race.”
Similar to the Clash, you ran well but were frustrated after the Bristol race last year. How do those emotions compare?
“I just think I’ve been in the position a couple times to almost win, knowing I was close. You just keep learning and keep going with more opportunities down the road. Keep working. It’s good to be frustrated for a little bit, but to be frustrated for a few weeks later, I think honestly you’re being selfish at that point. Just keep going.”
With two wildcard races in Daytona and Atlanta to start the year, how important is it to get off to a good start?
“It’s important just to finish and to not get in a hole. But if you can win, it doesn’t matter.”
Did it help your confidence to have the run you did at the Clash?
“To be honest with you, I don’t really go off confidence in racing. I don’t think that’s really the smart way to go about life in general. I just work hard and capitalize in what I did wrong.”
What did you learn?
“I learned that we were really good. I think the new nose on the Toyota body is really good. And we did a really good job preparing for the race.”