Ty Gibbs scored the win in the penultimate race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, after a controversial overtime finish during the Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
As the field took the white flag, Gibbs gave his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate a shot in the rear bumper, sending the No. 19 Toyota crashing bumper-first into the turn one wall.
Jones needed a victory to advance into the Championship Four at Phoenix Raceway.
“I love my guys, I love everyone on this 19 team, but I’m excited to make my move JRM next year and be a part of that organization and a little bit more respect over there probably next year so I’m excited for that,” Jones said. “We’ve got one race left at Phoenix.
“I know we can go out there and win that and shake this up a little bit still and try to steal a little thunder there. So I don’t know man, I have no words. You know, I know that we had some fun beating and banging back and forth a little bit but I’ve never, you know, wrecked him or anything for a win. And so it just kind of shows where that level was there.”
Jones started on pole and scored the stage one victory, leading 98 of the 269 laps.
Gibbs gave his perspective on the incident, standing firm on his actions.
“It was definitely not a clean move, for sure,” Gibbs said. “I definitely didn’t want to wreck him, but I definitely wanted to move him out of the groove so I could go win. I felt like we lost the spring race getting moved by him.
“He’s my teammate, but definitely want to get the win here. It’s important to get the win. And now we’re going to the championships. It’s cool. Hopefully, I don’t get hit by any cans or anything right here.
“We got moved out of the way earlier this year so, it’s part of it.”
Jones wasn’t surprised by the action, but questioned the decision of his teammate.
“I know Ty enough to where I know he doesn’t care about what he did,” said Jones, who will move to JR Motorsports next season. “He’s pretty much, well—he wasn’t ‘pretty much’—he was locked into the next round. So really, what did that do?
“I don’t really understand the move. I understand trying to get aggressive—you want to win the race. But to just destroy the race car, I don’t see it. I don’t get any satisfaction from it. Maybe he does. Maybe he likes to win that way? But I never have and never felt strong about racing that way. So we’ll just take it and go for it.”
Jones’ misfortune elevated veteran Justin Allgaier into the final Championship Four berth. Jones needed a victory to claim the spot, but Allgaier was in a position to advance on points, which he did by 12 points over regular season champion A.J. Allmendinger.
Allgaier finished fifth and Allmendinger 16th after contact between their cars cut Allmendinger’s left rear tire as the drivers played bumper tag and swapped positions during the closing stages of the race. Allgaier was happy to advance but less than thrilled with the way it happened.
“I can’t even describe it,” Allgaier said. “It’s disappointing that it’s gotten to the point where it’s—unfortunately easier to drive through somebody than it is to pass them. Really proud of our team. We never gave up until the checkered flag fell. Had a ton of damage right there (from a collision on Lap 262 in the second overtime) but made it to the final round.”
After the race, Allmendinger sought Allgaier out on pit road and congratulated him.
“You get down to the end, (Allmendinger) was pushing pretty hard,” Allgaier said. “He chose to run into us enough times that you get to the point where you have to go for it. He knew when he turned back left that we were going to hit.
“I hate it for those guys. I don’t know if we could have run 25 laps battling as hard as we did there at the end. They’ve had a great season. We’ve had a great season. It’s just so hard when it comes to the last race, especially at a place like Martinsville.”
Gibbs and Allgaier will race for the series championship at Phoenix against Josh Berry and Noah Gragson, who earned their spots in the Championship Four with respective victories at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami in the Round of Eight.