Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Ty Gibbs Interview After Winning at Bristol | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Ty Gibbs breaks down his first NASCAR Cup Series win, as he highlights the emotions after the race, his Victory Lane celebration with his mom, what this means to his family, and the overall career-defining moment. On this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour, Mamba Smith sits down with Gibbs to discuss his Bristol victory, how his team executed, celebrating with his grandfather Joe Gibbs, and explains what this milestone win means for his future in the NASCAR Cup Series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was cool. I had my mom there that showed experience. She was stuck, you know, pretty worried about the dress, catched on fire. You know, they built a lot of success, a lot of legacy here at JGR. You know, Jamie might be a little bummed out. I took the mic from her, but I had to. I had to say some things to the world. What's going on, everybody, Mamba Smith in the house for the Kevin Harvick. Happy Our podcast, Victory Lab.

We have our newest winner. Welcome to the club. Ty Gibbs. What's up, Big Dog? How's it going? I appreciate it. coming on here. Man, I appreciate being able to sit with you after your first win.

I've known you for so long. Actually, let's start up to the beginning before we get into what just happened. Hey, we have a picture of me and you from about 10 years ago at a late model race. I want to show you right here, bro. It's awesome. That's awesome. It was so funny. Yeah.

You know, it looks like we have not got a lot older than that, honestly. It looks like we've been pretty good with our, you know, maybe the facial program, the skin 13. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you probably do a lot, but I do a little bit, maintain, and I think we don't like too much a lot of that. No, I feel like 10 years is you look good on both of us. Look good on both of us. Man, I just, first of all, Ty, congratulations. Been obviously a friend of yours and supporting you for a long time and watching your growth.

I want to talk about the burnout in the moment with your mom putting her in the car and riding into Victory Lane. Obviously, we've seen people do that with their kids, but with your mom, that's a whole different thing. Yeah, it was cool to have my mom there that shared experience. I honestly wish, you know, my siblings were there. You know, my siblings are all across the world, our country doing stuff. And, you know, it'd be cool to have them there. I don't know if I can, my brothers are too big.

They might crush the inside of the car. I probably can't even fit in there. We have to wedge them in there. But my mom, it was cool to have the experience with my mom. You know, she's always wanted to do a ride-along. So I decided to do it after the win of the race. And I think that was a good decision. And I thought she was stoked.

you know, pretty worried about the dress catched on fire, but it didn't happen. Yeah, it might have the gun right to the bus slot there, but yes, you're super pumped, and it was full experience to share that with her. Never forget that. That was so dope. The burnout was fantastic.

You know here on the Kevin Horvick-habel our podcast, we're always grading the burnouts, so high-grade on that. What was the celebration? You, like, called, and then you, like, slammed the phone down. What was that celebration about? I was pointing up to my dad, and I answered the phone, and I shut it down,

because he told me the win and I won and I was making sure I was hanging the phone up. Man, I love it. Thought about it for a little bit, yeah. I love that. The relationship with your family, obviously, you guys are really tight. As you've been on this journey into the Cup series, what has that been like trying to, you know, really maneuver and guide the company but also get a handle on your own career driving?

Yeah, you know, it's definitely, definitely been really fun. I've had a lot of fun. You know, obviously, you know, growing my character in the last couple of years and, you know, learning how to be an adult is super cool. So, yeah, to be able to be in a position I'm in is awesome and to be able to lead, you know, some guys. And, you know, I'm not the leader. We're all taking initiative in our team, but, you know, to have a little bit of part of that is super cool. And especially, you know, in Jugg's racing, it's awesome. I've always been here my whole life. And so, you know, to have that is, it's an honor. And it's been a ton of fun.

Let's get into Sunday a little bit. You were going toe to toe with some of the Cup series best in Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney, who both had super fast cars as well. I thought that what you did to hold them off when the last 15 laps, what you did on the final restart was textbook. But holding them off, I felt like that's really where you won the race. How were you able to do that and keep the momentum? Because they were charging you really hard there.

Yeah, you know, I think it was a great call to stay out, obviously, and keep track position. And, you know, we watched Seth Trophica, you know, keep Brent out the other night in the next Finney race. And I think that, me and Tyler, I thought that was the great decision. And it was a team decision. And we did it. And we stuck to it. And fortunately, once.

So, yeah, it was cool. Not a lot of fall off on the tire. So it was really helpful to stay out and to keep that. But obviously, definitely enough to, you know, the 12 is right there. It could have passed me in a couple laps as well if it kept racing. You just mentioned Tyler Allen, your crew chief. You guys both got your first career. Cup Series wins together.

That's kind of a unique. thing in itself. How have you guys grown? Because last year, obviously, the situation was a little bit different. It was kind of like a co-cru chief situation, but obviously you wanted to stick with Tyler for a reason. You guys just proved why. Yeah, you know, Tyler's been, you know, killing it lately. And, you know, we obviously started out, you know, completely fresh last year. And so build on our notebook's been really big, you know, especially for my engineers and Grace and Allen and my boys, they're just been killing it. And my other engineer, Evan, has been, you know, done such a good job.

And so to have those guys, you know, on my team is super special. And they all work really good together. And, you know, we all believed in each other. Obviously, you know, we went through a lot of stuff last year. And so to finally stick it through is super important. And, yeah, it's been a ton of fun. You might be, there's only a small group of guys that have been able to win a Cup Series race and win it with family.

And you have one of your cousins is a tired check. on your car. That celebration is between y'all. That must have been a whole other level. Yeah, I was sick to have my family there. Like, you know, to have everybody there is awesome. And, you know, my cousin Jackson's, my front tire changer. And then my other cousin was handing fuel, and he's on the development pick career.

And he'll be killing it here shortly and on the Jackman stuff. So, yeah, he FaceTime, like, I think everybody in my family. So we're all on one pick FaceTime victory lane, which is super cool. So as a moment, I'll never forget. get very, very thankful and very honorable to be in this position. When you look at the rest of the year, kind of looking forward, do you have any places circled? I know that we're going to be really strong here.

Like we're in Bristol, or you're just taking it all in stride race by race? Yeah, taking it all in stride, honestly, race by race, obviously the speedways are kind of what they are on a dice roll there. But, yeah, I feel like, you know, good at Bristol. I think we were really, you know, solid all the road courses in the mile tracks and in the mile the half. So I think Kansas can be another good shot for us, and we're going to keep working hard and two we can do. Kevin often talks about the circle of life on the show and making sure all the pieces are right, and it really seems like you've been able to get your pieces right and keep your

circle, what you need. What about your processes that you're doing this year have been beneficial versus maybe something you weren't doing last year? Yeah, you know, Kevin's obviously a great role model for that. And Sony, I look up to and have always looked up to. And it's a been super important in my career. And so I really credit Kevin, a lot of my success. And he's taught me a lot. But having a great, you know,

a great group of guys around you, having a great program, and just having everything, you know, fit in the right spot, you know, working hard in all the ways and in the right way is not, you know, over analyzing some things. Just sticking to it.

And, you know, everybody learns their own, in their own way. So it's not just you have to do what this guy does or what this guy does. You learn how you need to learn and you got to make it happen. You got to have a love for the sport.

You talk about role models and helping you get through. I think one of the coolest moments was when you jumped over the wall, you ran down to your granddad. He's in the middle of an interview with Jamie Little and you grabbed the mic. That, bro, that was so cool. Yeah, it was awesome. You know, Jamie might be a little bummed out. I took the mic from her, but I had to. I had to say some things to the world. And yeah, it was cool, it's cool experience. And I'll never forget that. And yeah, I don't know. It was cool. It was sick. I had to take the opportunity

for sure. When you think about Ty, just what you, your family has been through, you know, you guys have had a lot of loss, but you guys have really galvanized. What do you think, J.D. and your dad, Coy, looking down on Sunday, knowing they're proud of you and what you've been able to accomplish. What do you think that they were thinking to each other? Yeah, they're pumped. I mean, I think they have a lot better things going on in heaven from what the Bible says, but yeah, I think it's super cool. You know, they built a lot of success, a lot of legacy here at JGR. And, you know, they've been very successful.

And so is my grandfather and my mother and my aunt and everybody, part of my feeling, you know, been very successful. Growing up around a lot of great role models and in our lives, a lot of great people to look up to. So it's super cool. Before I let you go, man, I know you like to travel. Did you have any travel over the break? Did you go anywhere?

Did you just kick it in Charlotte? Just kicking in Charlotte, man. You usually hear the UK, so just hanging out, hanging out. my boys and working hard, staying locked in in the sand, doing everything I can to get better. Hey man, stay locked in, proud of you, happy for you. Continued success is on the way, making some moves up in the point standings, and make sure you tell Billy, oh, Billy, I say, hey, for me too. Hey, it's his birthday on the 10th, so yeah, happy birthday to Bill Dog, Billy Feltz. He's, like, raised me, so I appreciate Billy. Thank you. Happy birthday.

Hey, my sister's a 10th, too. I love it. Thank you so much, Ty. See you guys.