Coy Gibbs | |
Birth Name: | Coy Randall Gibbs |
Birth Date: | 9 December 1972 |
Birth Place: | Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S. |
Death Place: | Avondale, Arizona, U.S. |
Total Busch Races: | 39 |
Years In Busch: | 2 |
Best Busch Pos: | 14th (2003) |
First Busch Race: | 2002 Aaron's 312 (Talladega) |
Last Busch Race: | 2003 Ford 300 (Homestead) |
Busch Wins: | 0 |
Busch Top Tens: | 2 |
Busch Poles: | 0 |
Total Truck Races: | 58 |
Years In Truck: | 3 |
Best Truck Pos: | 10th (2001, 2002) |
First Truck Race: | 2000 NAPA 250 (Martinsville) |
Last Truck Race: | 2002 Ford 200 (Homestead) |
Truck Wins: | 0 |
Truck Top Tens: | 21 |
Truck Poles: | 0 |
Coy Randall Gibbs (December 9, 1972 – November 6, 2022)[1] [2] [3] was an American racing driver, assistant coach with the Washington Redskins, and co-owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. He was the son of Joe Gibbs, five-time NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning owner and Pro Football Hall of Famer.[4]
Gibbs played college football as a linebacker at Stanford University from 1991 to 1994.[5] He led the Cardinal in tackles as a senior. In 2004, after his father was re-hired as the Redskins coach, he joined the team as an offensive quality control assistant,[6] serving in that capacity until 2007.[7]
Gibbs made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2000, sharing the driving duties of the No. 20 Chevrolet with his brother J. D. In 2001, he began racing a full-time schedule, posting two top-five finishes, and finishing 10th in points both in 2001 and 2002.[8] In 2003, he replaced Mike McLaughlin in the Busch Series, nailing down two top-ten finishes and being named runner-up in the Rookie of the Year race to David Stremme. He retired from racing at the conclusion of the season.
One of Gibbs' more notable moments in NASCAR came in 2002, when he and Kevin Harvick raced in the spring Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. Gibbs, driving the #20 truck for his father's team, made contact with Harvick, who was driving the #6 truck that he owned, during the race. Harvick retaliated later on by intentionally wrecking Gibbs' after a restart, which resulted in the #6 being parked for the remainder of the race. Although Harvick denied his actions were intentional, radio communications proved otherwise and, since Harvick was already on probation after he got into a physical altercation with Greg Biffle after the Busch Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks earlier,[9] the incident with Gibbs resulted in Harvick being suspended from the Cup Series race at Martinsville one day later.[10] Harvick was also fined $35,000 and was put into another probation for the rest of the year.[11]
In August 2007, Gibbs announced the formation of Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross (JGRMX) competing in the AMA motocross and supercross championships.[12] [13] The race shop for JGRMX was less than a 1-mile away from the NASCAR Cup Series teams located in Huntersville, North Carolina.[12] Gibbs headed up the operation along with help from motocross industry veteran David Evans.
Originally from Fayetteville, Arkansas, Gibbs lived in Cornelius, North Carolina with his wife Heather and their four children, sons Ty, Case, and Jett, and daughter Elle.
Gibbs died in his sleep on November 6, 2022, at the age of 49, the night during which his son Ty won the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. The cause of his death has not been announced. His death was announced just prior to the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, and a moment of silence was held in his honor.[14] Multiple drivers, including Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and eventual race winner Joey Logano, a former Joe Gibbs Racing driver, paid tribute to Gibbs before and after the race, with Logano dedicating his race victory and championship to him.[15] The death prompted Ty to withdraw from the Cup Series season finale scheduled for the next day; he was replaced by Daniel Hemric for the race.[16]
(key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)NASCAR Busch Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | Pts | Ref | ||
2002 | Joe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Pontiac | DAY | CAR | LVS | DAR | BRI | TEX | NSH | TAL 41 | CAL | RCH | NHA | NZH | CLT | DOV | NSH | KEN 14 | MLW | DAY | CHI | GTY | PPR | IRP | MCH | BRI 27 | DAR | RCH | DOV | 61st | 416 | [17] | ||||||||
Chevy | KAN 21 | CLT | MEM 30 | ATL | CAR | PHO | HOM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2003 | 18 | Pontiac | DAY 39 | TAL 9 | DAY 17 | 14th | 3213 | [18] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chevy | CAR 14 | LVS 16 | DAR 14 | BRI 27 | TEX 10 | NSH 30 | CAL 13 | RCH 24 | GTY 36 | NZH 21 | CLT 24 | DOV 25 | NSH 31 | KEN 15 | MLW 24 | CHI 20 | NHA 19 | PPR 17 | IRP 25 | MCH 37 | BRI 22 | DAR 23 | RCH 20 | DOV 18 | KAN 21 | CLT 26 | MEM 25 | ATL 25 | PHO 28 | CAR 33 | HOM 31 |
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pts | Ref | |||||||||||||||
2000 | Joe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Chevy | DAY | HOM | PHO | MMR | MAR 18 | PIR | GTY 32 | MEM | PPR 19 | EVG | TEX | KEN 19 | GLN | MLW 28 | NHA 16 | NZH 24 | MCH | IRP DNQ | CIC 13 | RCH DNQ | DOV 33 | TEX 34 | CAL 29 | 27th | 1226 | [19] | |||||||||||||||
48 | NSV 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2001 | 20 | DAY 7 | HOM 11 | MMR 13 | MAR DNQ | GTY 22 | DAR 15 | PPR 31 | DOV 5 | TEX 7 | MEM 5 | MLW 13 | KAN 9 | KEN 19 | NHA 14 | IRP 13 | NSH 10 | CIC 23 | NZH 20 | RCH 18 | SBO 12 | TEX 7 | LVS 12 | PHO 31 | CAL 14 | 10th | 2875 | [20] | ||||||||||||||||
Ware Racing Enterprises | 51 | Chevy | MAR 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2002 | Joe Gibbs Racing | 20 | Chevy | DAY 28 | DAR 23 | MAR 21 | GTY 22 | PPR 9 | DOV 6 | TEX 8 | MEM 8 | MLW 3 | KAN 3 | KEN 7 | NHA 6 | MCH 7 | IRP 18 | NSH 12 | RCH 6 | TEX 2 | SBO 4 | LVS 15 | CAL 6 | PHO 6 | HOM 12 | 10th | 3010 | [21] |