While the dust-up between Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek with two laps remaining in Sunday’s Wurth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway has captured all of the attention following Chase Elliott’s second win of the season, another incident earlier in the race should also be in everyone’s focus.
Ryan Preece seemingly dumped Ty Gibbs on Lap 101 of Sunday’s race. And while Preece made the aggressive move on Gibbs for no reason, further review of the in-car camera footage of the two drivers from the closing laps of Stage 1 revealed the full story of what transpired to raise Preece’s blood pressure.
How The Spat Started
With four laps to go in the opening Stage of the race, Preece was displeased with a move that Gibbs put on him heading into Turn 1. Gibbs dove it deep into Turn 1 and surprised Preece by going by him on the inside.
As Gibbs skirted away, and Preece was losing positions after being forced into a higher lane, Preece let his team know how he felt about Gibbs on the radio.
https://t.co/nzxHMqa1jL pic.twitter.com/lYtbMFd4AQ
— Skid (@WhoisSkid) May 3, 2026
“What a fucking idiot that kid is. He is so lucky his car is so fucking fast,” Preece said.
After the Stage was over, Preece was still fuming about the on-track encounter with Gibbs, and he unleashed a lengthy venting session to his team about the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“Alright, when I get to that 54, I’m done with him,” Preece stated. “Fucking idiot. That car is so fucking fast, fucking pisses me off. Stupid. I can’t. I’m going to vent for like 15 seconds. I can’t stand when idiots like him have fast race cars that they can do stupid shit, and get away with it. End of rant.”
25 laps later, Preece crossed paths with Gibbs once again.
This time, it was Preece chasing Gibbs down, and as the pair of drivers entered Turn 3 on Lap 101, Preece seemingly wanted to showcase his displeasure to Gibbs. Preece drove ultra-deep into the turn, made contact with the rear of Gibbs’ No. 54 Toyota, which sent Gibbs into the outside wall.
That would be the end of Gibbs’ day, while Preece would continue on to score a 14th-place finish in the Wurth 400.
Preece Adds Further Context To The Situation
After climbing from his No. 60 RFK Racing Ford Mustang, Preece was asked by Frontstretch.com’s Dalton Hopkins about the incident with Gibbs. Preece said he races by reciprocating the same level of respect he receives from each competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I’ll be honest with you, I hate that he wrecked. But decisions you make on the racetrack, there are repercussions,” Preece said. “And I try to race everybody with the amount of respect that I’d like in return. When you don’t do that, I’m not going to cut you a break. That’s what happened.”
“I hate that he wrecked … I try to race everybody with the amount of respect that I’d like in return. When you don’t do that, I’m not going to cut you a break. That’s what happened.” @RyanPreece_ did comment on his incident with @tygibbs #NASCAR #Wurth400 pic.twitter.com/zgRy8WwOTE
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) May 3, 2026
While Preece stopped shy of saying he intentionally crashed Gibbs, he did say that he had a chance to cut Gibbs a break on Lap 101, and chose not to based on their previous encounter 25 laps earlier.
Gibbs didn’t want to speculate about the crash after he was evaluated and released from the infield care center, because he had yet to see a replay of the crash. But when he got on social media afterward, the situation became quite a bit clearer for Gibbs.
Quote-Posting the quotes from Preece’s team radio tirade during the Stage break caution after Stage 1, Gibbs said from his personal X account, “Hmm, atleast he is honest”.
Hmm, atleast he is honest ?? https://t.co/cVjD2j4qwA
— Ty Gibbs (@TyGibbs) May 3, 2026
With Gibbs seeing the context behind the boot that he received from Preece in Turn 1, you have to wonder if we will see these two meet up on track in heated situations more often as the season rolls along.
