Ty Gibbs Nearly Punted a Competitor Into a NASCAR Official at Texas Motor Speedway

Last night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway was something of a shambles thanks to detonating tires creating the most caution-filled race ever seen at the track — but we very nearly walked away with an even worse story. Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, just about punted a competitor into a NASCAR official on pit lane.

As multiple cars raced off pit road during the event, Ty Gibbs chose that as his moment to retaliate against competitor Ty Dillon for nearly colliding with Gibbs coming out of his pit stall. After swerving to avoid Dillon, Gibbs attempted to door-slam his competitor, pushing Dillon’s car dangerously close to an official inspecting a different vehicle on pit road.

You can watch the clip below:

While it’s no doubt frustrating to be nearly clipped by a competitor in the pits, it’s not the place to retaliate — especially when there are people standing on pit road. It was poor form for Dillon to exit his pit stall the way he did, but even in a sport as crash-filled as NASCAR, pit road is off-limits for intentional crashes. It’s something that should have been solved on the track or with a protest.

Gibbs has recently taken over the place of Kurt Busch, who has been sidelined with ongoing concussion symptoms for the past 10 events. Originally taking over the No. 45, Gibbs has since moved to the No. 23, since 23XI Racing swapped him with Bubba Wallace as the No. 45 is still eligible for owner’s points in the Cup Series playoffs.

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As of this writing, NASCAR has not reprimanded Gibbs for the pit road incident.

The Gibbs/Dillon incident was ultimately overshadowed by contact between Denny Hamlin and William Byron. Byron collided with Hamlin during a yellow flag, sending Hamlin into the grass. As the cars continued pacing the field, Hamlin proceeded to bump into Byron multiple times.