"I was pretty taken aback by that" - Here's why Dale Earnhardt Jr. praised Ty Gibbs

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently showered praise on Joe Gibbs’ grandson and Xfinity driver, Ty Gibbs. The young driver is running for his second season in the Xfinity Series and has been hitting the headlines this season albeit for the wrong reasons.

In a single season, Gibbs has been in the spotlight for fighting with a fellow driver and wrecking rivals. Topping it all, he has also been smacked with a $15,000 fine due to on-track behavior that led to a fight after a race between him and Sam Mayer.

As a teen driver, he’s hungry for wins but learning with time and gradually reducing his aggressiveness. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is among the racing veterans noticing a change in Ty Gibbs’ racing.

Over the weekend. Dale Jr.’s team JR Motorsport won the Xfinity race after Noah Gragson took his #9 Chevrolet to the victory lane. Noah and Gibbs battled for the win on the final lap, and tension was high since the two have a history of wrecking each other, but they raced maturely, and Gibbs ended up taking second place.

Following a clean run, Dale Jr. couldn’t help but applaud Gibbs for his racing skills. In a media interview with the winner and team owner, the JR Motorsports owner said he was impressed with Gibbs for his clean race. He said:

“I was so impressed by Ty [Gibbs], he was in a situation where it would have been easy for him to use up Noah [Gragson] a little bit and raced him even a little bit harder without any real repercussion, and he raced real clean. I was pretty taken aback by that. Now, it’s on Noah when they’re in that same situation to give him that same amount of respect.”

What caught Dale Jr.’s attention is that Gibbs took criticism and made changes. According to him, Gibbs is everything one can need in a driver regarding learning from their mistakes. He then urged his driver, who won the race, to return the favor extended by Gibbs.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. further said:

“I just wanted to publicly say how impressed I am with Ty. He takes some criticism and he makes changes and he improves. He evolves. He’s everything you’d want in a driver in terms of seeing a mistake or seeing the repercussions from something and trying to be better going forward.”

“I think Ty proved he has restraint, and he proved that even against one of his fiercest competitors and rivals that he has control, emotionally. So that was what was most impressive to me, because there is history with those two drivers, and it would have been, in some people’s eyes, completely fair for Ty to race him harder and more physically. I was impressed by that, because usually, from such a young driver, you don’t see that type of emotional control and ability to sort of restrain yourself.”

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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team performance in the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined forces with his elder sister and launched JR Motorsport as a racing team in 2002. Initially, JR Motorsport was part of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., but it was a business move to help Dale Jr. be able to negotiate sponsorship deals.

The team competes in the NASCAR Xfinity and Truck Series. They currently have four entries in the Xfinity Series with Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry, and Noah Gragson as the full-time drivers for the four cars. The team has managed to claim three championships, with Chase Elliot winning the first championship for the team in 2014.

Recently, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s elder sister hinted that the team might be joining the Cup series soon, though the veteran hasn’t confirmed the move yet. Meanwhile, he also competes for the team on a part-time basis, driving the #88 Camaro.