Ty Gibbs finally won his first-ever Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend, a moment many had been waiting for. Despite his talent, the journey to that milestone came after nine podiums in four full seasons.

NASCAR veteran and commentator Kyle Petty recently shared his perspective on this delayed breakthrough. On Monday's episode of "PRN: The Fast Talk" podcast, Petty shone a light on Gibbs' career graph through the junior category, saying:

"When he came out of the Xfinity Series, which is now the O'Reilly Series, he won—what, seven or eight races that last year—and won his championship. And everyone thought, 'Man, here he comes. Here he comes. He's coming to Cup, we're going to see the Ty Gibbs train.' And it didn't happen that first year, and everybody was like, 'Okay, you gotta get a year under your belt in a Cup car.' And then it didn't happen the second, and by the third year, everybody's like, 'Well, is it ever going to happen? Are we going to see it?'"

Petty felt Ty Gibbs' delayed win was a result of not having a specific mindset. He explained this by using a lesson he learnt from his father, the legendary Hall of Fame driver Richard Petty.

"My dad always said it—winning is a habit, and you learn to win, and you learn the things that it takes to win. I think Ty lost his way a little bit, and he's focused back on where he was that last year. And I don't think it's a surprise that we see him in victory lane."

However, Kyle Petty did admit that he didn't expect Gibbs to be the first one from Joe Gibbs Racing to get his first win. The 65-year-old was expecting to see Christopher Bell or Chase Briscoe reach the landmark first in this era of Toyota dominance.

Ty Gibbs' Grounded Perspective After a "Super Cool" Milestone

Ty Gibbs has silenced all critics who were questioning his worth all these years. Despite the controversy around favoritism towards him in JGR, the team owned by his grandfather, the 23-year-old remained focused on the job at hand.

However, he wasn't concerned about the favoritism allegations, and also refused to get carried away with the Bristol win. Gibbs remained grounded after the emotional triumph.

"I don’t think one win’s going to change my life or my career," he said in the post-race press conference. "I mean, I have a great life after this. You know what I mean? One win doesn’t change it."

For him, his life is not going to change after a win, but for other drivers in the garage, he surely has become a rival to keep an eye on.

"Everybody is ‘When is he going to get his first win? When is it going to happen?’ It doesn’t matter for me. We’ve been consistent this year. Obviously running up front, you’re going to have that happen. We came back from pretty deep today and won it. Super cool," he further added.

Ty Gibbs went from sixth to fourth in the Cup standings after his Bristol win, demoting Chase Elliott and William Byron.

Written by

Sanskriti Pastor

Edited by

Yask Kotak