NASCAR insider offers hot take about Ty Gibbs' 2025 season, how to turn things around

Ty Gibbs is in his third full-time season racing the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He was expected to take a major leap forward by now, but he’s still searching for his first NASCAR Cup Series win, and he’s off to a disappointing start in 2025.

The 22-year old’s best finish is P16, and that came in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16. Since then, he hasn’t finished above P22. That’s led Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic to wonder if the former Xfinity Series champion can turn his season around, or if it’s already too late for the young, promising wheelman.

“Ty Gibbs looked like he had one of the best cars in practice. When you looked at the long-run speed and the lap averages and stuff, it was like, ‘Okay, here we go. This is where Ty Gibbs turns it around, because it’s just been a lot of bad luck.’ They’ve had some bad runs too, but it’s also been some bad breaks. Surely, they’re not this bad. Ty Gibbs now, after six races, is P34 in the point standings. The only two full-time drivers behind Ty Gibbs in the point standings are Cole Custer and Cody Ware,” Gluck prefaced, via the latest episode of The Teardown.

“So, this is a big problem right now for Ty Gibbs. How much are you pressing the panic button if you’re Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 team? It seemed like you brought a fast car, and they were the last car on the lead lap. Nothing to show for it. What are you doing right now?”

Evidently, Bianchi isn’t overly alarmed regarding Gibbs’ start to the 2025 season, but he does believe his strategy will have to change. Instead of racing for stage points and trying to make the playoffs with consistency, the No. 54 team will have to take chances, getting to Victory Lane for the first time if they’re going to make the Top 16. 

“This is going to sound really weird. From the conversation I’ve had with people about this, you’re not panicking. You’re staying the course, because this is part of the rebuilding of the No. 54 team,” Bianchi explained. “They made some big changes on that team. They’re changing the processes a lot. Ty’s starting to do some different things. So, I’m not panicking. I’m concerned — certainly concerned.

“I would like to have results. But there are things you can point to and say, ‘They’ve had bad luck.’ They had an issue at Phoenix when they were running well. Lap 1 at COTA, you know —he gets into an accident. So, yeah, is it bad? Yes. Is the performance not there? Not necessarily. But we are basically going back to the beginning and we’re kind of rebuilding this team up. So, I’m not happy, but I’m also not panicking. I do think that this defines their season in the sense of, ‘Okay, we’re done racing for points. We’re done chasing stage points.’ I think that does help you on some tracks, at a Martinsville or a road course, or maybe even a speedway along the way.

“So in a way, it certainly kind of gives you a clear distraction of like, listen — if we’re going to make the playoffs, it sure as hell isn’t going to be on points. We’re going to go and we’re going to win races. But also, at the same time, we’re going to have to get our performance to be there. I will say, we have seen teams pop up and struggle and slump, and all of a sudden, it’s like they find something and they go. When you drive for Joe Gibbs Racing, the opportunity to have that turnaround is much more significant.

“I don’t want to say it’s easier to do, but it’s just — you’ve got a lot of resources there, and you’ve got a lot of teammates to lean on to do this. This is just part of it. I’m concerned, but I’m not mashing the panic button, screaming, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got to do something.’”

That’s some sound advice from Bianchi, and an interesting theory for Gibbs’ future. Unfortunately, Gluck doesn’t share his partners’ sentiment — the NASCAR analyst is of the belief that the No. 54 team should be nervous, as they’re simply not matching results with the speed of their car week-in and week-out.

“Well, I am pressing the panic button at this point,” Gluck added. “To me, it’s like — you have fast cars, you should be running better, what’s going on? Why aren’t we running well? I don’t have any explanation for it. I don’t know why it’s happening. They should be better than they are. They shouldn’t be this far off. I mean, this is troubling at this point.

“I think to just say, ‘Well, they’ll turn it around,’ you could say that after a few weeks. But again, when you have a fast car, and last week was the same thing in a way — you’re just like, ‘Man, what’s going on? Why are they so far off to start that race?’ It’s a weird one for me.”

All told, the NASCAR season is a marathon, not a sprint. Who would’ve thought Joey Logano would finish on top after his start in 2024? There’s plenty of time left for Ty Gibbs to turn it around, but the results will need to improve sooner rather than later. Eventually, you do run out of time — the clock hasn’t struck midnight on the No. 54 Toyota team yet though.