This one’s got people fired up…
Ty Gibbs finally broke through and scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win this weekend in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The driver of the #54 car for Joe Gibbs Racing is in his fourth full season in the Cup Series, driving for the team owned by his grandfather, legendary Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, and led by his mother, Heather Gibbs, who serves as team president.
It’s also been a career best season – by a lot – for Gibbs. In his previous three seasons in the Cup Series, the 23-year-old had finished no higher than 15th in the final points standings and had only made the playoffs once. But so far in 2026, Gibbs has already racked up four top-5 finishes before his win yesterday.
Given his performance so far in his career, and considering the fact that he hadn’t won in his first 130 starts, Gibbs was already facing a lot of criticism for being a “silver spoon” kid who was only in the car because of his last name and didn’t deserve to be in a top Cup Series ride.
The criticism only became louder recently when filings in a lawsuit involving Joe Gibbs Racing claimed that Gibbs was given special treatment by the team and isn’t held to the same standard as their other drivers.
A declaration from former crew chief and competition director Chris Gabehart claimed that team owner Joe Gibbs directly managed the #54 car, but none of the other 3 teams:
“For example, key personnel decisions were made without my counsel or input despite my role as Competition Director; and critically the No. 54 driver was not held to the same meeting attendance standards as others on the team.”
Gibbs has obviously denied that he’s given special treatment by the team, but his biggest statement hitting back at the allegations may just be his win yesterday that will no doubt help quiet the “silver spoon” allegations.
Of course some of those claims were still flying around following the race, which led his defenders to bring up another driver who – by those criteria – would also be considered a “silver spoon” kid: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Junior obviously got his start in the Cup Series driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the team founded by his late father and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. He drove for DEI for 8 seasons before leaving for Hendrick Motorsports, and also got his start for his father’s team in the then-Busch Series for two seasons before moving up to the Cup Series.
And amidst the criticism of Gibbs as a “silver spoon,” driver, a tweet from Couch Racer on Twitter argued that those criticizing Gibbs are hypocrites for not saying the same about Dale Jr. (and Chase Elliott, another son of a NASCAR legend).
Obviously the comparison of Ty Gibbs – who hasn’t exactly endeared himself to a large section of the NASCAR fan base – to one of the sport’s most popular drivers EVER has a lot of fans fired up, as they debate whether or not it’s a fair argument.
Many point out that Earnhardt forced Junior to work and build his own cars before giving him his own ride, something Ty Gibbs was never forced to do:
Dale Jr. worked hard, Ty Gibbs hasn’t done anything except try to ruin careers. He wrecked his teammate out of a win & champ 4 appearance. He took a team that won 2 championships & 55+ wins, won 1 race in 4 years, all while acting like God’s gift to racing!
— Phillip Sterling 🇺🇸🏁 (@PSterling9512) April 13, 2026
Did I miss the part where Ty Gibbs ran hobby stocks and late models that only he was working on? I’m old, so forgive me.
— Clausborne (@SantaClausborne) April 13, 2026
Yeah difference is…Dale SR made Jr come up the Hard way. He worked in his own stuff and didn’t win much till he got to the Busch Series! I’m happy for Gibbs, but he had a lot easier path than JR
— Cgh3838 (@Cgh38381) April 13, 2026
Others argued that Junior (and Elliott) proved they deserved their ride based on talent, something that many feel Gibbs hadn’t done – at least prior to this season:
I don’t remember Jr or Chase wrecking their teammates out of championship contention for no reason.
— Selliott Adler (@SelliottAdler81) April 13, 2026
There were some, though, who agreed that it’s unfair to paint Gibbs as being a kid who had everything handed to him without pointing out the advantages that Junior had as well:
This is the most accurate post that couch racer has ever made. I love it! 😂Got the Chase fans heated
— Daniel Perrell (@dperrell93) April 13, 2026
Of course NASCAR has always been a family sport, which has resulted in a lot of legacy drivers throughout the years: Hell, Richard Petty’s father, Lee Petty, was one of the founding drivers in the sport. And currently you’ve got not only Gibbs and Elliott but Ryan Blaney, John Hunter Nemechek, and Todd Gilliland who all had fathers in the sport. Not to mention Austin Dillon, whose grandfather Richard Childress owns his race team while Austin Cindric’s father Tim Cindric was formerly the president of Team Penske.
There’s no doubt that last name plays a big role in getting a ride in NASCAR these days. And it certainly helps when that last name is on the team, like Earnhardt and Gibbs.
But you’ve also got to back it up with talent at some point. Junior was seemingly able to do that early in his career, while it’s taken Gibbs a few years in the Cup Series. So is that the difference? Or is there a difference at all?
What do you think?
