For the second time this season, Ty Gibbs has celebrated a Cup Series win. This time, he held off a teammate in a faster car while taking advantage of a tire gamble.
Videos by FanBuzz
Gibbs and Christopher Bell both made their final green flag pit stops at Iowa Speedway on Lap 291, but they took different approaches. Bell's crew chief, Adam Stevens, opted for a four-tire stop. Gibbs' crew chief, Tyler Allen, gambled with two tires.
MORE: Gibbs Wins, Full Iowa results
This decision put Gibbs ahead for the final run to the checkered flag. Though Bell still had nearly 60 laps left to work through the field and make some passes.
W for the @SIRIUSXM Toyota 🏁 @TyGibbs pic.twitter.com/BUcKM42BXy
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 9, 2026
At first, it appeared that Bell would achieve his goal. He had the faster car, and he used it to quickly erase Gibbs' advantage. He got right to the bumper of the No. 54 Toyota, and he began hounding his younger teammate for the lead.
Yet, no matter what Bell tried, he could not make the race-winning pass. He even tried downshifting, which helped gain speed for a brief period of time.
He first got loose and had to slow down to cool down his tires. This opened up the opportunity for Gibbs to put some distance between himself and his teammate.
The battle did not end there, however, as Bell made another late charge. He got back to his teammate's bumper and began trying to use lapped traffic once again to make the pass.
Bell nearly got to the outside of the No. 54, his preferred position, with three laps remaining. But Gibbs pulled back ahead and went on to score his second win of the season. This launched him into second place in the Cup Series standings.
"Yeah, I just had to keep my head down, gel up and stay with it," Gibbs told USA Sports after the race.
Bell, for comparison, had to settle for his seventh runner-up finish of the season. He has finished second at Phoenix, Charlotte, Nashville, Chicagoland, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and Iowa. Four of these runner-up finishes have been in the past five races.
"This is what you call a bad second-place finish for sure," Bell said after the race. "I don't know what else to say. Ty did a really good job. He did a great job managing the race.
"I could tell that he was slipping and sliding around. Similar to last week or two weeks ago with Corey Heim, he just didn't make a mistake. So P2."
