Gibbs holds off Blaney, Larson to win Food City 500

BRISTOL — Ty Gibbs held off a pair of NASCAR champions to join an elite group of drivers to score a first career Cup Series victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Toyota owned by his grandfather's Joe Gibbs, fended off last-lap charges by Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson to win Sunday's Food City 500 by a half-car length. It was the 23-year-old's first win in 131 Cup Series starts and he became the 46th different driver to win at Bristol. It was the first win for a No. 54 car since Lennie Pond drove his Oldsmobile to a victory at Talladega in 1978. "I thought the race was awesome. I really appreciate Blaney and Kyle for running me really hard, but running me clean," Gibbs said. "We put on a great show for the fans, and had a great day." On a weekend when BMS was celebrating family traditions, the Gibbs family remembered Ty's father Coy and uncle J.D., who each died before his 50th birthday. The younger Gibbs, the 2022 O'Reilly Series champion joined Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Ernie Irvan, Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch as drivers who scored their first career win at Bristol. "I would have loved for my father to have seen this," Gibbs said. "I've always loved Bristol, and if there was any place I could choose for my first win, it had to be Bristol." Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR champion, had four fresh tires on his No. 12 Team Penske Ford at the end of the race while Gibbs opted to stay on the track on older tires. Blaney was fast on both the high and low sides of the race track. He started the final restart on the bottom, but couldn't get past Gibbs. "I gave it my best shot on the last restart. I just couldn't get it done," said Blaney, who led six times for 190 laps. "Halfway through the race, we became the best car. I really wanted to win at Bristol, but congrats to Ty, he's been so close. It was a great battle." Larson, the two-time and defending champion, led the most laps (284) for a second straight day after he finished second in Saturday's O'Reilly Series race. Driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on Sunday, Larson looked to repeat as the race winner, but wasn't as strong late in the race as he'd been in the early stages. "It was really aggressive, hard racing there at the end," Larson said. "Ty got strong that last run, and that was probably my worst one. We got a little bit out of the track. We took a third-place car and finished third." Points leader Tyler Reddick overcame an early penalty to finish fourth in the No. 45 Toyota. Chase Briscoe, a teammate of Gibbs in the No. 19 Toyota, finished fifth. Reddick has a 62-point lead over Blaney in the Cup Series standings. Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano and Ryan Preece finished sixth through eighth in a trio of Fords. Denny Hamlin, another Gibbs teammate, finished ninth in a Toyota, and Carson Hocevar was 10th in a Chevrolet. Spins by Chase Elliott and Riley Herbst over the final 22 laps set up a green-white-checkered finish. It was the first overtime race at Bristol since Matt Kenseth won the 2015 Food City 500. Larson dominated the first half of the race. He was the leader at the end of stage 1 and held off Ryan Blaney for the stage 2 win. Alex Bowman's return to the Cup Series after missing the previous three weeks with vertigo was short-lived. Bowman was collected in a multi-car accident and finished last among the 37 drivers. NASCAR and Pro Football Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, a three-time Super Bowl champion coach and a five-time Cup champion car owner, talked about what the win meant to him. "This is one of my best experiences. Obviously when Denny won, honoring J.D.'s life, that was such a huge deal," Joe Gibbs said. "Then, I think about Coy and how he brought Ty up. I know he's got a great view of what just happened. I just want to thank so many people, and thank God for how he has blessed our family."