Ty Gibbs Sets Focus Beyond NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year Award

Ol’ Yogi Berra once famously said, "It ain’t over till it’s over."

In this case, he’s wrong.

It’s over, but not officially over. Trust us on that. Not until early in November will 20-year-old Ty Gibbs be officially named NASCAR’s 2023 Cup Series Rookie of the Year. But no matter that this is just August … it’s over and has been for a while.

Even before Noah Gragson lost his ride early this month (he was the only other rookie candidate), Gibbs was well on his way to removing all doubt. The grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs clearly outperformed Gragson throughout the two-thirds of the season and now has no challengers over the year’s final 11 races, including this weekend’s Coke Zero 400 in Daytona Beach.

The numbers tell it all: Gibbs beat the Legacy Motor Club driver in 15 of the first 17 races they faced each other. (Gragson missed Sonoma in June because of an illness). Gibbs then beat him in three of the next four and had built a near-insurmountable lead when Gragson was suspended and then lost his ride in July for an insensitive reply to an offensive social media post. All told, Gibbs beat Gragson 18 times in the 21 races they ran together, averaging about 10 finish-positions better per-race.