Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs led every lap Sunday to win the NASCAR Cup Series’ The Open and advance to the evening’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, N.C.
Following Austin Cindric’s wreck on Lap 59, Gibbs raced away from a tight group of cars, eventually beating Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 by 1.572 seconds.
The pair of Toyota drivers moved into the Sunday night headliner, the non-points All-Star Race that featured a $1 million purse.
Gibbs raced into the All-Star Race for the second straight year, while Noah Gragson rounded out the 20-car field by way of the All-Star fan vote.
Josh Berry, Justin Haley and Gragson completed the top five.
In a 100-lapper that would finalize the field for the All-Star Race, Gibbs’ No. 54 Camry XSE jumped out front from the high side and led Wallace around the 0.625-mile short track.
The JGR driver extended the lead to 1.80 seconds by Lap 20, but Wallace was able to keep his 23XI Racing ride at the same margin over the next 25 circuits around the refurbished speedway.
With a scheduled caution flying at Lap 50, the entire field pitted for service, and the top five emerged as Gibbs, Alex Bowman, Wallace, Chase Briscoe and Berry.
The second caution flew when Cindric’s No. 2 Ford made hard contact into the frontstretch wall to set up the mad dash to the end.
–Field Level Media
