Ty Gibbs thanks NASCAR superstars Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell in a candid interview ahead of his Chili Bowl debut

NASCAR driver Ty Gibbs recently went on an interview with FloRacing and thanked Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell for his preparation for his big debut at the Chilli Bowl Nationals this week.

Ty Gibbs is a rising star in the world of motorsports and had a notable 2024 season driving the #54 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Born on October 4 2002 in Charlotte North Carolina, the grandson of the legendary Joe Gibbs has shown remarkable skill on road courses in the season. He procured 8 top-5 finishes and ranked 15th in the season. He has very little experience in midget racing and this year's Chilli Bowl Nationals is where he will make a nationwide debut in dirt racing.

Ahead of his debut at the Chilli Bowl Nationals and after his practice laps at the national midget championship, the #54 driver gave an interview to FloRacing.

When asked about who has helped him adjust to dirt racing he thanked his JGR teammate Christopher Bell and his Hendrick Motorsport rival Kyle Larson.

The 22-year-old replied:

"I love racing. I'm a fan of it, but also being able to drive it, I'm very proud and happy to do that, so a lot of smiles, and Christopher's been really helpful to me, and Kyle's helped me out, too. So this has been, it's just so fun, and it's cool to see, you know, this world kind of welcoming me into it is really cool. I feel thankful for that, so I'm just having a fun time" [2:05 onwards]

On what advice he got from them, the North Carolina native replied:

"Yeah, you know, the most, the best advice I've been given is hammer down, and that's definitely the truth." [1:45]

Ty Gibbs had sound advice from the drivers because of their immense and successful experience in midget racing. Christopher Bell has won the Chilli Nationals 3 times in a row (2017, 2018, and 2019) with Kyle Larson not lagging behind with two in 2020 and 2021. Their experience will surely help him understand the ins and outs of midget racing and hopefully lead to Ty Gibbs having a successful campaign in his debut season.

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When Kyle Larson praised Ty Gibbs after battling for the win at NASCAR Xfinity Series Henry 180 in 2022

Kyle Larson (17) corners turn 5 with Ty Gibbs (54) close behind during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Henry 180 at Road America - Source: Imagn

Kyle Larson, the then-defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, competed against Ty Gibbs in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Henry 180 at Road America in 2022. Despite leading for much of the race, Larson ultimately finished second to Gibbs, who made a clean pass for the win by a small margin of 0.858, leading Larson to praise the young driver's skill and racing etiquette. In the post-race interview, he said:

“He’s obviously really good. Watching, I feel like you can tell a good race-car driver by from the road courses and he’s always ran really well on the road courses since he started, so I knew he was gonna be really good. I hope to get to race him on an oval.”

Larson knows how good Gibbs is at racing and will be expecting a big challenge with the young driver even on dirt track at Tulsa Expo Raceway this season.