After two back-to-back finishes outside the top 20, Ty Gibbs made his way back to the podium at Go Bowling at the Glen on Sunday. However, the 23-year-old was not satisfied with his third-place finish, his best-ever Cup result at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen road course.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had been on a strategy to save fuel for the last 39 laps of the race. He managed to lead for only 17 laps before being overtaken by Shane Van Gisbergen in the closing stages of the race.

While speaking with Josh Sims of NASCAR post-race, Gibbs expressed his disappointment. "Just a little frustrating," he said. "I wish we could keep racing, but unfortunately, I had to save some fuel there. But get to come home with the third place finish. Obviously, wish it was another win, but you know, I had a lot of fun today. Always fun to come to Watkins Glen."

This podium marked his career-best finish at Watkins Glen. In his previous visits, his best result was a fourth place in 2023. Last year was bittersweet as he started the race in a lowly 33rd place, but managed to fight back to 14th. 

During Stage 1 of the race, the No. 54 driver fell back from 10th to 17th. It was during the second stage that Ty Gibbs began to challenge the drivers in the top five and finished in fourth. 

The 23-year-old eventually finished the race 16.531 seconds behind defending Watkins Glen winner Shane van Gisbergen. 

Ty Gibbs shows steady growth as the season unfolds

Earlier this year, the No. 54 driver faced considerable heat as his winless streak since joining the Cup Series in late 2022 continued. However, that came to an end at Bristol Motor Speedway in April.

Since then, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been putting up decent performances. In the last few races, he qualified in the top ten, but his races ended early after getting caught in crashes. However, the Watkins Glen podium marks his second-highest finish this season, after his Bristol win.

"Very fun day, very blessed and fortunate to be in this position and in this car," Gibbs said post-race. "We'll keep working hard, we'll keep going for it, and excited to keep hammering it down."

After 12 races, Ty Gibbs sits in sixth place in the drivers' championship with a 195-point deficit to leader Tyler Reddick. It will be interesting to see whether Gibbs can continue building on this momentum, with NASCAR heading to Dover for the All-Star Race next weekend.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yask Kotak