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It’s been a terrible start to Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ty Gibbs is the latest of the team’s four entries to run into problems, after smacking the new concrete wall in Turn 11, which messed up the right-front suspension on the No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE.
“Yeah, I hit the (turn 11) inside wall with our He Gets Us Camry,” said Gibbs. “I was finding grip down there and was making up time, and then got too close and clipped the wall and hurt the right front.”
The 21-year-old driver would make contact with the outside wall twice more — once just before the start-finish line and the other entering the first corner — which caused even more severe damage to the racecar.
Despite making a valiant attempt, the Joe Gibbs Racing team was unable to get the He Gets Us-sponsored machine fixed in the allotted time, forcing him to retire from the event. Gibbs will be credited with 37th.
It’s the third issue for a driver from Joe Gibbs Racing, after Denny Hamlin blew up on the race’s second lap, and Martin Truex, Jr. went off-track not long after.
