Just hours after his son won the Xfinity Series championship, Coy Gibbs, the vice chairman of Joe Gibbs Racing, died Sunday morning at the age of 49.
Last night, Coy Gibbs (co-owner) passed away peacefully in his sleep. It is with great sadness that Joe Gibbs Racing confirms his passing. “The family appreciates all the thoughts and prayers and asks for privacy at this time,” the team said in a statement released before NASCAR’s season finale began.
J.D. Gibbs passed away in 2019 of degenerative neurological disease; he was 49. Coy Gibbs succeeded his older brother as vice chairman of the family-run NASCAR organization.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Coy Gibbs. The NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France extended his deepest condolences to Joe, Pat, Heather, the Gibbs family and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing on the passing of Coy, a true friend and racer.”
During the Cup championship race Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where Christopher Bell was competing for the title, NASCAR held a moment of silence for Coy Gibbs. Prior to the start of the race, Kyle Busch, who has been with the team for 15 years, cried on pit road.
According to JGR driver Denny Hamlin, “Today we will do what we don’t want to do, but we will unite as a family and race for our name on our chest.”
For what 23XI Racing called “a family emergency,” Ty Gibbs was replaced by Daniel Hemric in the No. 23 car. Jackson Gibbs, son of the late J.D. Gibbs, was part of Bell’s pit crew Sunday.
After a turbulent week, Coy Gibbs’ son, who won the Xfinity title on Saturday, is expected to replace Kyle Busch at JGR soon.
Last week, Ty Gibbs wrecked teammate Brandon Jones out of the lead at Martinsville Speedway after he has been criticized for aggressive driving this year. If Gibbs had stayed in second, JGR and Toyota would have had two cars in the Xfinity finale. Jones needed to win the race to win the championship.
“Racing is a family and relationships within the entire garage go much deeper than on-track competition. Today, we lost a dear member of our family.” “The loss of Coy Gibbs is devastating for everyone at Toyota Racing Development and TRD,” said Wilson.
He tweeted after Ty Gibbs crashed Jones “I miss J.D.” and explained he was referring to the atmosphere at JGR established by J.D. Gibbs, which he called a “tight family unit.”.
We need to act as if our teammates are part of our family. Unfortunately, compared to other teams, JGR has had the least amount of cooperation. I’m not blaming anyone; it’s just that J.D. was unique in making everybody feel included. I told Coy, J.D. was a father figure to me when I joined the series and his absence caused a shift in the culture we want to bring back.
Ty Gibbs made his own humbling apology tour before holding off Noah Gragson for the championship. Joe Gibbs and Coy Gibbs spent the days following Martinsville defending their young driver.
Ty Gibbs’ family needs prayers, tweeted Gragson, who had open animosity toward him throughout the Xfinity season before congratulating him on Saturday.
From 1991 to 1994, Coy Gibbs played linebacker at Stanford and served as an offensive quality control assistant during his father’s second stint as Washington NFL coach. During his short racing career, Gibbs raced in NASCAR’s Busch Series for two years and NASCAR’s Truck Series for three years before helping his father launch Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross in 2007.
His wife Heather and four children live in Cornelius, North Carolina, where Coy Gibbs was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
