Ty Gibbs Wins the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship

After controversy struck last week when he took out his own teammate to win the race at Martinsville, Ty Gibbs was able to prevail and hold off Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier in the final laps to win the race at Phoenix and the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.

Very similar to the truck series race the night before and just like Zane Smith, Ty Gibbs started from the pole and swept both stages while leading a race-high 125 of 200 laps in the race. Gibbs held off three Jr Motorsports drivers in the process to win the championship, those being Noah Gragson, Justin Allgaier, and Josh Berry. Gragson led 35 laps in the race, Allgaier led 26 laps, and Josh Berry fell out after his No. 8 Chevrolet got out of shape and finished 13th.

As Gibbs did his burnout and climbed out of his car to celebrate with his team, he was met with a shower of boos from the crowd after what occurred at Martinsville a week ago.

“You know, what I did last week was unacceptable,” Gibbs said in his post-race interview. “And I apologize once again, but it was unacceptable because we could have had two shots to win this deal, and it was stupid from an organizational standpoint. All my fault.”

“I can sit here and tell you I’m sorry as much as I can, but it’s not going to fix it. I’ve got to fix my actions. I felt like today I had a good race, felt like I made some good moves. Me and the 7 (Allgaier) were racing really hard. I felt like hopefully we put on a great show for you guys, the fans, and thank you for all that you guys do.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be the one with the boos, and I’m the one that put myself in that position. But I don’t want this championship to be remembered for boos; I want it to be remembered for hard work and our team. Awesome job.”

Pit stops became a major factor as the race was coming to a close after a caution on lap 160. Noah Gragson was sent back to eighth after an 18.8-second stop while the other three restarted in the top three on lap 165. While that happened, Ty Gibbs’ crew remained in clutch, giving out the fastest pit stop of the race at 13.7 seconds.

Gragson made contact with Brandon Jones that sent the No. 19 Toyota spinning to bring out another caution, but was able to gain five spots on the next restart on lap 171, getting around teammate Justin Allgaier and chasing down Ty Gibbs, who he had been very vocal about his actions all week.

Gragson was pushing hard and got very close but couldn’t get to the bumper of the No. 54, resulting in him finishing second and 0.397 seconds behind Gibbs.

“I gave it my best,” Gragson said afterwards. “I drove my ass off and gave it everything I had. Just got beat.”

“He (Ty Gibbs) raced like a champion tonight. He deserved it.”

Gragson went over to congratulate Gibbs and his crew with a handshake after the race.

Justin Allgaier settled for third, and Kaulig Racing teammates of Landon Cassill and AJ Allmendinger finished fourth and fifth respectively Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst, Daniel Hemric, Austin Hill, and Sammy Smith rounded out the top ten. Josh Berry finished 13th after making contact with the backstretch wall on the final restart on lap 171.