The way last year went for Shane van Gisbergen, it seemed like 2026 would’ve seen an even more brutal road course domination by the Kiwi. But instead, new competitors are emerging for him this season. And one NASCAR broadcaster just added Ty Gibbs to that list.

On this week’s Happy Hour podcast, Mamba Smith discussed Gibbs’ growth in the sport with Kaitlyn Vincie and Joey Logano. Gibbs had a wonderful outing at Sonoma, finishing third after starting from pole.

“Ty Gibbs, he’s now 23. He’s lived some life. Obviously, he had a lot of life things being thrown at him, but he’s starting to build onto those things. He’s a man now and has figured out circle and what he needs around him, and I think he’s started to become a leader of his group. And I think that matters a lot,” Smith said.

Gibbs’ 2026 backs Smith’s words. After four years, Gibbs finally won his elusive Cup Series victory at Bristol, while securing 11 top-10s and seven top-5s already. He’s clearly driving his best season so far.

Even his crew chief, Tyler Allen, praised him after the Martinsville race (where he enjoyed his fifth consecutive top-5 finish), as he said, “I think Ty has shown a lot of maturity, a lot of growth, taking care of tires and just being there at the end.”

And it’s not just this. Seeing the way he drove at Sonoma, Smith made a big claim on his road course skill and feels his confidence directly compares him to the road course king himself.

“I think he has the confidence, I think he truly believes he can go toe-to-toe with SVG at these road courses.

“I think he’s one of the only guys that thinks like when he goes like, ‘I think I can win.’ He’s run with him like he’s ran like really really close,” Smith said on the podcast.

In the race, Gibbs started on pole and led every lap of Stage 1 to win it. Not just that, he even led the middle portion of the race, though SVG controlled the bigger picture in the end. But more than the results, Smith is pointing at Gibbs’ confidence, which in turn, is the reason for his improved performance.

And it wasn’t just Gibbs that was lauded. There was another JGR teammate of his that was commended on the same show.

Injured Christopher Bell impresses at Sonoma

Joe Gibbs Racing celebrated Sonoma as all of their drivers finished in the top five, except for Denny Hamlin, whose 26th-place finish ironically dethroned Tyler Reddick as the standings leader after the race. And among those was an impressive performance by the injured Christopher Bell that wooed the co-hosts.

Smith mentioned, “I mean, brother, broken wrist, running a road course, and then not only like he was competitive, but like, top five. I was shocked. I was impressed.”

Bell, who faced one of the scariest hits seen in modern NASCAR at Michigan, had a comeback performance just in the third race after that. He still recovers from his left wrist and ankle injuries that he sustained there.

“It was a great run,” Bell said after the race, as reported by Frontstretch. “Definitely what we needed. So proud of the effort of the racecars, obviously we’re really good. All of our team cars were great.”

Bell went on to win 50 points and moved up two places to sit in 10^th place. Meanwhile, his JGR teammate Chase Briscoe, who gave tough competition to race-winner SVG and finished runner-up, interestingly moved one place down to sit in 11^th place.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Suyashdeep Sason

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason