Ty Gibbs wins wild Daytona Road Course race in Xfinity debut

Gibbs, the 18-year-old grandson of Joe Gibbs Racing owner Joe Gibbs, went from fourth to second in Turn 1 at the start of the second overtime and then cleared leader Jeb Burton for the lead.

Gibbs then had to hold off road-racing ace Austin Cindric, last year’s Xfinity champion, over the last lap but came away with his first NASCAR national series victory.

“I just can’t thank everybody right now. This is like a dream come true to me. I really didn’t think I had it there and we fought back and won.

“Family is everything. They do so much for me. This is just amazing. I’m sorry I’m a wreck, I didn’t think this was going to happen at all. Last week I had a terrible interview and I just want to apologize to everybody.”

Gibbs becomes the third youngest winner in series history behind Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. He joins Dale Earnhardt (1982), Joe Ruttman (1982), Ricky Rudd (1983), Terry Labonte (1985) and Kurt Busch (2006) to win in their Xfinity Series debut.

Gibbs is competing fulltime in the ARCA Menards Series this season and running a partial Xfinity schedule in JGR’s No. 54 Toyota.

Cindric ended up second, Daniel Hemric was third, Brandon Jones fourth and Jeb Burton rounded out the top-five.