The American NASCAR driver, and co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, Coy Gibbs died in his sleep at 49 on Sunday morning. The devastating news broke right after his son won the Xfinity Series championship.
JGR Co-owner Coy Gibbs Dies
Following the demise, Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed the death news stating their beloved Gibbs “want to be with the Lord in his sleep.” The family has also requested the privacy they deserve at this difficult time. The hearty statement was released just before the beginning of the NASCAR season finale.
Joe Gibbs, his father, has now lost both of his dear sons. His elder son, J.D Gibbs also dies at the age of 49 after suffering from degenerative neurological disease. After that, Coy Gibbs succeeded his brother and served as a vice chairman of the NASCAR organization.
“We are deeply heartbroken by the loss of Coy Gibbs,” said NASCAR CEO and Chairman Jim France. “On behalf of NASCAR and the France family, I extend my deepest condolences to Pat, Joe, Heather, the entire Gibbs family, and all others at Gibbs Racing on the tragic loss of Coy, a racer and a true friend.
NASCAR honored the deceased soul in silence for a minute prior to the Cup championship event on Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell was running for the title. Before the race began, Kyle Busch broke into tears as it was his one last race after consecutive 15 years with the team.
“Today we are supposed to do what we do not like to do, but we will again unite as a family and race for the title on our chest,” JGR driver Denny Hamlin took to his official Twitter handle.
Coy Gibbs’ son Ty Gibbs has been replaced by Daniel Hemric for what was called “a family emergency” by the 23XI. He was previously slated to drive the #23 for 23XI racing. Meanwhile, Jackson Gibbs, son of the late J.D Gibbs, was present at the event on Sunday and he even worked the race.
Coy Gibbs just had a tempestuous week with his son, who managed to pull the Xfinity title on Saturday. In fact, the 20-year-old boy is expected to replace Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing. However, Ty received a major backlash this year as he wrecked teammate Brandon Jone, who was preparing to win the race and also to make the Xfinity championship, leading JGR to have two cars in the finale. If Ty had just stayed in seconds, then the story would have been different for both JGR and Toyota. Besides, Ty was also criticized for aggressive driving as well. Very recently, he made an apology tour prior to holding off Noah Gragson for the championship.
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Gragson, who has a famous rivalry with Ty tweeted, “Prayers to the Gibbs family,” before appreciating Ty for his Saturday performance.
The president of Toyota Racing Development, David Wilson noted, “We lost a loved part of our family. The loss of Coy Gibbs is disappointing to everyone at TRD and Toyota.” He also mentioned racing a family, and said that the relationship within the garage was much greater than the on-track competition.
Hamlin referred to the week as “difficult” for JGR before Ty was honored as the winner. After Ty crashed Jones, Hamlin tweeted, “I miss J.D,’ and explained how he used to call JGR a “tight family unit.”
“We actually have to treat (everyone on the team) like they are our family. I think when compared to the other teams, we work with each other less. And that’s a fact. I am not saying someone is at fault here, but what I mean is J.D was different, he used to wrap his arms around everyone,” he said. “I once told Coy, ‘J.D. was my dad.’ He was (like) a dad as soon as I entered the series. So when he was gone, it altered the culture a little bit, and we have to get it back.”
Coy Gibbs, who was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, played linebacker at Stanford from 1991-1994. He also served as an offensive quality control assistant when his father was the Washington NFL coach. He only had a brief racing career- 2 years in the NASCAR’s Busch Series and 3 years in Nascar’s Truck Series, before assisting his father in the launch of Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross in 2007.
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