“My brother doesn’t know what to say”: Dale Jr.’s guest reminisces the heart-stopping moment he was presumed dead in the Alan Kulwicki plane crash

Former NASCAR crew chief Tony Gibson was recently featured on former Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s podcast, "Dale Jr. Download." Gibson recounted the unfortunate incident involving Alan Kulwicki and revealed that his family mistakenly believed he was Kulwicki during the crash.

Before establishing himself in stock car racing, Gibson faced numerous challenges. Early in his career, he worked on car bodies for NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series teams. This was when he met Alan Kulwicki, leading to Gibson's significant breakthrough in 1992.

However, Kulwicki was involved in a tragic crash on Thursday, April 1, 1993. He was returning from an appearance in Knoxville for the Bristol Motor Speedway race on Sunday when his plane crashed near Blountville, claiming the lives of Kulwicki and three others.

Reflecting on the tragic news, Tony Gibson mentioned that his family believed he was on the flight with the late Cup Series driver and assumed he was dead. He stated (via Dale Jr.'s podcast, 00:33 onwards):

"My brother, Peppy, lives in Tennessee. He saw it on the news. He called my wife because he knew I flew a lot with Alan. He asked Beth, 'Hey, did Tony fly with Alan this weekend? Did they drive?' She said, 'No, he flew with him.' He told my wife, 'Okay, well, I'll just catch up with him later.' He didn't know what to say."

"But then I ended up calling Beth and telling her that thank God nobody got to her before, or Peppy didn't say something about it. Here she is, with two very cool people on the plane, as well. Yeah, so there's a lot of things to be thankful for," he added.

Alan Kulwicki had a successful career in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning the championship title in 1992. Additionally, he secured five wins, 75 top-10 finishes, and 24 pole positions in 207 starts during his nine-year stint in the series.

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“After 30+ years, I got it done”: Tony Gibson recalled the greatest achievements of his career on Dale Jr.'s podcast

On the same "Dale Jr. Download" podcast, Tony Gibson reflected on the greatest achievement he had spent over three decades striving to attain. The crew chief also discussed the challenges of winning the Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch.

After Alan Kulwicki gave Gibson his breakthrough, he worked with various drivers throughout his career. However, his time with Tony Stewart's co-owned team, Stewart-Haas Racing, brought him unparalleled success. In 2009, during his first year with the team, Gibson became Ryan Newman's crew chief, achieving his first win in the role. Later, in 2017, the 60-year-old former crew chief celebrated a career milestone by helping Kurt Busch reach victory lane at the Daytona 500.

During the 'Dale Jr. Download' podcast, Tony Gibson told the host Dale Jr. that he struggled for nearly three decades before capturing his first Daytona 500 win as a crew chief. He explained:

"My whole entire life to be in that position to win that race, that's that's it. That's what you dream about. all the struggles you go through to get that done. with my mom, my dad, and all my friends at your home track right there in your backyard, yeah. And you know, as well as anybody, to win that race is extremely hard. Everything has to go perfect After 30-plus years, I finally got it done. I looked at Rodney Childers and I said, 'I did it, like I did it, man.’'"

The 2017 Daytona 500 ended with a nail-biting finish, featuring an intense battle between Kurt Busch and the 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. Busch crossed the finish line just 0.288 seconds ahead of Blaney, the Team Penske driver.