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One of the new young guns in the NASCAR Xfinity Series came in the form of Ty Gibbs when the 19-year-old made his debut at Daytona International Speedway last year.
The 18-year-old at-the-time blasted onto the scene in historic fashion, winning his debut Xfinity Series start on the road course at Daytona.
If his surname sounds familiar to you, don't worry, you're not the only one. Ty Gibbs comes from an esteemed racing family with his grandfather, Joe Gibbs, the owner of a certain NASCAR Cup Series team of the same name.
Since his dream debut last year, Gibbs has earned himself a certain reputation amongst the stock car racing fraternity. He is known for questionable moves on track while having the best machinery underneath his feet.
The privilege of being from the Gibbs family also brought questions about nepotism in NASCAR.
Five reasons why NASCAR fans dislike Ty Gibbs
Here are five possible reasons as to why stock car racing fans dislike Ty Gibbs:
5. 'Rich-Kid' perception amongst NASCAR fans
19-year-old Gibbs is the grandson of Joe Gibbs, a legend in the NASCAR fraternity, and the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Since Ty is extremely close to the team owner, he has been driving top-tier machinery from the get go. Fans are known to not like drivers who have not had to fight their way up. Ty Gibbs went straight into the best car.
4. Dominating the field
It is generally observed in motor sports that the driver who always wins tends to be on the opposite end of the fans' liking.
Motorsport legends like Dale Earnhardt Sr., Lewis Hamilton and Jeff Gordon were hated by fans when they won almost every race and allegedly made their respective sports less exciting.
Ty Gibbs has also been suffering from a similar problem. The Charlotte, North Carolina native has won eight of his 25 Xfinity Seires starts (30% win rate). Only the likes of Kyle Busch have been able to brag about such a statistic.
3. 'Win at all costs' mindset.
Gibbs reminds a lot of people of the young and upcoming Kyle Busch in terms of his trajectory in NASCAR.
Kyle Busch is an unapologetic driver in terms of his on-track manners as well as his personality off-track. Busch is known to win many races, and he did so in the most controversial ways possible.
Ty Gibbs seems to be treading on the same path. In his most recent altercation with Sam Mayers in Martinsville, he further cemented these claims by fans.
2. On-Track Altercations
19-year-old Gibbs has already been involved in three major incidents with different drivers in 2022, always playing the part of the aggressor.
The first incident came to light when Gibbs crashed an under-funded Ryan Sieg in Las Vegas only on the fourth lap of the race.
The race at Richmond saw a rivalry between teammates Gibbs and John Hunter Nemechek, which saw the No. 54 Toyota Supra driver win the race.
The most notable of these incidents came at Martinsville, where he got into a fist-fight with Sam Mayers after the race.
1. Lack of Awareness
Ty Gibbs is aware that he is seen as a 'rich-kid' and 'villain' amongst NASCAR fans who does not care about anyone else's equipment.
He does not help his case when he goes out on track to solidify these statements, as he makes the same egregious moves over and over again. This also solidifies his 'win at all costs' attitude.
