NASCAR CUP SERIES: INSTACART 500

March 14, 2021

Coy Gibbs

Press Conference

Phoenix Raceway

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: Coy, thank you so much for taking some time to talk with us. We'll get right into questions for you.

Q. What is the relationship been like with 23XI racing so far? Is it any different than previous relationships JGR has had with alliance teams?

COY GIBBS: I think overall it hasn't been any different. We want to give them the best equipment we possibly can. It's obviously probably a little closer to us because it is Denny. He's been with us forever. We want to see him succeed as a driver and a car owner.

I can't say we put more effort into it because I think we put a ton of effort into every one of them. It probably just means a little more to us, just seeing how close he is.

Q. We haven't talked to you since your son's Daytona win. Your thoughts on his performance so far.

COY GIBBS: Yeah, he totally screwed the weekend up. Could have won yesterday, and then we would have won them all. I blame him for that (smiling).

No, he's doing good. I don't know. Growing up watching him grow as a driver, probably since he was like 12, you think he's pretty good but you don't really know. Then you start throwing him in these divisions, and he's performing. It's exciting to watch. It's exciting as a father.

I think it helps going through it, watching my brother go through it, screw it all up, watching myself go through it, screw it all up. I feel like I can at least help guide his path a little bit. Hopefully he can be successful at it.

Q. Back to the Ty question. Where do you get that balance between dad and knowing that the kid has so much potential? How do you harness it, bring him up the right way as far as his progression? You don't want to put so much pressure on him that he screws it up. You've had so much experience watching your dad, other drivers, where are you going to find that balance?

COY GIBBS: I'd say my work was done between the age of 12 and 14, probably 12 and 15. I was really hard on him, as hard as you possibly could be.

My approach is you're going to have to face the pressure sooner or later, so I might as well apply it as hard as I possibly can. Then at 14, 14 1/2, I completely backed off, left him on his own so he could kind of go through it from 14 1/2 on up on his own. I think that's important, too. I don't want to sit there and handhold the kid. He doesn't need it.

I had no idea my plan going in. That's the plan I chose. Hopefully it works out.

Q. You said you were really hard on him. In what way?

COY GIBBS: I think if you want to compete in any sport, any athletics, you've got to be disciplined. I think instilling discipline a lot of times is hard for the kids. I coach Pee Wee football to this day. My kids are too old to play for me. It's the same thing. You kind of got to go through a process. You have to get hardened.

That's what I wanted him to have. I wanted him to have his voice and understand that I don't have to just listen to the crew chief or listen to someone about the car. If you don't like it, you need to voice your opinion and change it.

I see so many kids growing up that don't do that, then kind of fall in a rut of just listening to whoever the crew chief is, whoever is tuning the car. I think that's a huge mistake.

Q. He had two different Zooms. Both times when he was talking about you, he made a point to say you're completely different from the rest of the family. What does that mean?

COY GIBBS: I don't know (laughter). I don't see how that could be good. I hope it's not good, the rest of my family is not good.

Q. He said you were a really hard worker. I don't know if he was saying the other guys are slackers.

COY GIBBS: I don't know. I'd say we're a unique family. We got kids all over the place. We got Ty racing. My daughter is jumping horses. My others play every stick and ball sport in the world. My wife works a full-time job. I travel a lot and work.

I don't know. I think he just grew up watching his dad work and that's what you just start doing. I think we're pretty close-knit but we're very rarely in the same room together.

Q. Have you sensed any frustration out of Martin not having won as much as he did with Cole in the last year with James?

COY GIBBS: No, I haven't really sensed any frustration. Last year we had a lot of ones we should have won, honestly. I think there obviously is going to be an adjustment period. I think he knew that. I think James knew that. It's fun to see him start clicking here.

Let me say this, the beginning of the race was like, Oh, my goodness, they're going to be terrible. The last hundred they made the right adjustments. They were just a rocket ship.

Hopefully we move forward and they win a ton of races.

Q. Do you have any concerns with Kyle Busch, do you feel like he will go through some growing pains?

COY GIBBS: I think any time you make changes, there's going to be some growing pains. They had worked together before in the past, so I think that's going to limit a lot of them. I think today it was the pit stop, the loose wheel got them a lap down, never got it back.

He was getting better as the race went on. We never really got to see what he had. Obviously it's a frustrating day for us and a frustrating day for him. We want all our guys in the top four, for sure.

Q. Today's result, it would appear that JGR did some considerable work with its 750 program over the off-season. This year in general, it's a split horsepower series preparing to go to a new car. How is JGR as a whole consolidating different focuses for a lame duck race car?

COY GIBBS: It's difficult. We focus a lot of time on whatever package we're bringing to the track regardless. At the same time you're kind of looking ahead at the next car, preparing for that. It's a lot of work right now.

I think the next two years are going to be more work than the last 10 years put together. I'm proud of my guys. I think they do a great job. I think we make changes fast. They work night and day to put good cars on the track.

Q. I was hoping you could talk about the development you've seen out of Christopher Bell? How pleased have you been with his evolution?

COY GIBBS: Yeah, I mean, it's been great. Winning that race was phenomenal. It's fun to watch him grow, getting him in-house, having him with us every weekend. I think it's going to help him. I'm praying it helps us long-term.

He's extremely talented. It's where we expected him to be, but I'm darn glad he's there. We want to see him progress the rest of the year just like he has.

THE MODERATOR: Coy, thank you so much for taking some time to join us. Congratulations on a great weekend for all of the team.

COY GIBBS: Thank you.