In recent years, Noah Gragson and Ty Gibbs have been seen as rivals. It probably has to do with their 2022 Xfinity Series championship battle. That NASCAR season had these two talented young drivers fighting it out almost on a weekly basis.
Noah Gragson rallied off four straight wins late in the season. Ty Gibbs ended the year with back-to-back wins to close out the season and win the championship. During the media run-up to the race, Gragson had harsh words for Gibbs.
Gragson referred to Gibbs as a “douchebag” and said that he didn’t really like him. Then he added that he was just saying what the entire garage was thinking.
So, how did we get from those comments in the fall of 2022 to the two drivers cutting up on pit road after Gibbs won the Xfinity Series pole at Nashville today?
Perhaps a year in the Cup Series helped both drivers get over their feelings. They were thrown in the deep end, and Noah especially, had a hard time staying above water. He lost his job before the season ended.
As for Gibbs, he won Rookie of the Year in 2023. It didn’t seem like anything was settled between the two, but Gragson has done a lot of growing in his personal life this year. He said as much in his media availability on Saturday.
Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs have no bad blood from 2022
When you are young and in your early 20s, you say things you don’t mean. Or you say things you mean but later regret due to a change in mindset. There is no doubt that Noah Gragson has changed as a person, for the better, in the last year.
When I asked Gragson about his relationship with Ty Gibbs, he didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Ty and I, we were friends. Before, when he was racing go-karts and late models and stuff coming up,” Gragson explained. “Then, when you’re racing for a championship, I don’t care if it’s Ty or if it’s my mom or anybody, I’m going to do anything I can to get into the competitor’s head mentally.
“Do I wish I could go back and not say some of the things I said, absolutely. But at the same time I have a ton of respect for Ty, he’s a great race car driver, he’s a champion, he’s one hell of a competitor and we’re buddies now. I consider him a friend, I appreciate Ty. He’s a good driver, too and he’s a good guy. That being said, no matter who you’re competing against when I get on the race track or we’re competing for a championship, I don’t care who it is. But once we take off the race suits, I consider everybody in the garage my friend.”
Of course, I had to ask Gibbs how he felt. While he was a little less talkative on the subject, he echoed the same sentiment Gragson had. The two are friends, they race hard, but they are friends.
“We are just sort of just like normal friends,” explained Gibbs. “I don’t really think about it, just go race and have fun. But yeah, just normal.”
Maybe those rumors about Noah Gragson being considered for what is now Chase Briscoe’s seat at Joe Gibbs Racing were real? Hard to say. What we do know is that these two drivers view each other very differently than they did just a year and a half ago.
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