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Ty Gibbs had some interesting radio chatter during Saturday Night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The target of his comments was fellow TRD teammate John Hunter Nemechek and the TRD team Legacy Motor Club. While these comments might be a racing incident, it is part of the tough, drama-filled year for Toyota teams.
Ty Gibbs is having a solid season racing for Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. After making the Playoffs without any wins, Gibbs was facing a first-round elimination this past weekend at Bristol.
Mid-race, Gibbs found himself battling Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek. Nemechek had revived his career with Gibbs and TRD in the Xfinity Series the prior year before taking the step up to Cup with the new Toyota Tier One team LMC this season.
In Car Audio Captured during this battle tells a tough story for the two TRD teammates.
“F**king idiot, always been a tool bag… F**king Legacy those guys are just a joke.” — Ty Gibbs
While on-track racing is heated, it is not a great look for either party to hear this from a fellow Toyota Driver and the grandson of the owner of Toyota’s premier NASCAR team. It was a frustrating night for Gibbs, as he went on to be eliminated alongside JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr.
But when this audio came to light, rather than Gibbs’ elimination, it became the highlight of his night in Bristol. However, this is just a small part of what has been a season of Tension in the Toyota camp.
Toyota teams have done a lot of winning this season. However, that has come at the cost of some relationships in the TRD Camp.
At Richmond this spring, veteran teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. found themselves at the heart of late restart drama. After dominating at Richmond, Truex and Hamlin lined up for a late restart, at which Hamlin allegedly jumped the restart and was not penalized.
This finish resulted in a few post-race bumps from Truex and some clearly hurt feelings in his post-race interview.
However, the two put things aside rather quickly.
This short spat and Gibbs’s words about Legacy MC and Nemechek make up the bulk of the Cup Series drama. The Xfinity Series has seen arguments and altercations between TRD drivers almost all season long.
First, veteran Aric Almirola, racing for JGR in the Xfinity Series on a part-time basis, found himself suspended earlier this year. This suspension followed an altercation with 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace during a competition meeting. The two have since put it behind them.
This was followed by TRD driver and notable non-JGR driver Corey Heim, who received heat from JGR’s Chandler Smith for helping Austin Hill late in the race at Atlanta. However, this resurfaced rumors that Ty Gibbs is the reason Heim can’t get a ride with JGR.
The TRD Xfinity Series drivers couldn’t keep their heads on straight this past weekend when, following some competitive racing at Bristol, Chandler Smith let teammate Sheldon Creed hear his post-race opinions on Pit Road.
While these are all small things that most parties have moved on from, it is still interesting to see how often there is infighting at TRD. While some are racing incidents, there appears to be more to other conflicts. Nevertheless, TRD is having a good season on track, and seemingly that’s all that matters.
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