Sports

JGR promotes Ty Gibbs to replace Kyle Busch

Published

3 years ago

November 15, 2022

admin

2:57 PM ET

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ty Gibbs was promoted to NASCAR’s top series Tuesday in an expected announcement that was void of any celebration as Joe Gibbs Racing continues to mourn the loss of Ty Gibbs’ father.

Coy Gibbs died in his sleep hours after his 20-year-old son won the Xfinity Series championship Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway. He was 49, the same age as older brother J.D. when he passed away in 2019.

Joe Gibbs, a NASCAR and NFL hall of famer, has lost both his sons a month before their 50th birthdays. Coy Gibbs was vice chairman of his father’s NASCAR team at the time of his death.

The Gibbs family has made no public statements since confirming Coy Gibbs’ passing shortly before the NASCAR season finale. Ty Gibbs did not race in the Nov. 6 finale and has made just one public appearance since, courtside at a Charlotte Hornets game last week with his younger brother, a cousin and another driver.

The Tuesday announcement that Ty Gibbs will replace Kyle Busch in JGR’s Cup lineup came in a four-paragraph news release that said Gibbs will move up with Chris Gayle, his crew chief during this year’s Xfinity championship season.

Ty Gibbs will drive the No. 54 Toyota Camry next year, and JGR said it plans to reserve the number 18 for future use. Joe Gibbs chose 18 when he launched his NASCAR team in 1992, and Busch spent the past 15 years with the number.

Ty Gibbs has used the number 54 the past two seasons in the Xfinity Series, where he won 11 of 51 races and won the 2022 championship in the season finale at Phoenix. His first national series title ended a bumpy season for Ty Gibbs, who scrapped with other drivers, was fined by NASCAR and then cost fellow JGR driver Brandon Jones a spot in the championship finale by spinning him out of the lead on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway.

If Gibbs had simply stayed in second behind Jones, both JGR drivers would have made the championship race and Toyota would have had two entries. Joe Gibbs promised that consequences would be coming for his grandson but said the team had to get through championship week first.

Ty Gibbs then won the title, but he learned of his father’s passing at a Phoenix-area hotel the next morning.

Before the incident at Martinsville, Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson had defended Gibbs’ growth while noting that he’s younger than most of his peers. He’ll join a JGR lineup that includes 42-year-old Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin, who turns 42 later this week, as well as Christopher Bell, who turns 28 next month. Bell raced for the Cup title at Phoenix, finishing third in the title race.

“What we have to remember is, particularly if you contemplate him continuing to drive at the Cup level, he’s still got a lot to learn. He just turned 20. He’s going to make mistakes,” Wilson said in October. “Early in the season, he was not just getting into scraps, but once he got out of the car, he was handling that aggressively. He’s done a much better job handling the emotion once he gets out of the car.

“But he’s still seeing things that are new to him, and it’s going to be a very dynamic time for him.”

Ty Gibbs spent the week leading into the finale apologizing for the Jones incident, which he admitted was selfish and lacked big-picture awareness for the entire JGR organization. He also copped to being overaggressive and maybe even dirty at times on the track.

He was booed at Martinsville after spinning Jones and again at Phoenix after winning the title.

“Definitely have made some mistakes in the past and last weekend, but the best thing for me is to move on. And that’s what I did [at Phoenix] in my race, and we won,” Ty Gibbs said after the race. “Just moving on and learning from my mistakes. I can’t go back and change the past; and if I could, I would. But we can’t do that, and the best thing for me is to learn from it.”

Sports

Sources: Isles hiring Darche from T.B. as new GM

Published

32 mins ago

May 23, 2025

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Sources: Isles hiring Darche from T.B. as new GM

May 23, 2025, 01:17 PM ET

The New York Islanders have the man to make the first pick in the draft. Sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that the team is hiring Lightning assistant general manager Mathieu Darche as its new GM.

Darche played parts of nine seasons in the league with five different teams.

He has worked in Tampa Bay’s front office since 2019, helping the Lightning win two Stanley Cups. This will be the 48-year-old’s first general manager job.

Darche takes over for Lou Lamoriello, who was fired this offseason after seven seasons on the job. New York didn’t make the playoffs this season and hasn’t made it past the first round since 2020-21 — when the Islanders lost in the East semifinals to the Lightning.

The Isles lucked out in the draft lottery, jumping from 10th to the first selection. This will be the first time they’ll have the top pick since taking John Tavares in 2009.

Sports

Nill, Cheveldayoff, Zito up for GM of Year Award

Published

32 mins ago

May 23, 2025

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Nill, Cheveldayoff, Zito up for GM of Year Award

Field Level Media

May 23, 2025, 12:01 PM ET

Jim Nill, Kevin Cheveldayoff and Bill Zito have been named finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, the NHL announced Friday.

The voting for the award was conducted between league general managers, a panel of executives and media members following the conclusion of the second round of the playoffs.

Nill, 67, has seen his Dallas Stars reach the Western Conference finals for the third straight season. He is a two-time winner of this award (2023, 2024) and five-time finalist

Cheveldayoff, 55, has spent the last 14 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, who captured the Presidents’ Trophy this season. He also was a finalist for the GM of the Year Award in 2018.

Zito, 60, is looking to guide the Florida Panthers to their third consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. He has been a finalist for the GM of the Year Award in three straight years and four of the last five.

Sports

Panthers rout Canes in ECF as Bennett scores 2

Published

32 mins ago

May 23, 2025

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Panthers rout Canes in ECF as Bennett scores 2

ESPN News Services

May 22, 2025, 11:01 PM ET

The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are rolling. The Carolina Hurricanes are reeling.

Sam Bennett scored one of his two goals in Florida’s three-goal first period, Sergei Bobrovsky made 17 saves, and the Panthers beat the Hurricanes 5-0 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Gustav Forsling and Matthew Tkachuk also scored in another tone-setting opening 20 minutes for the Panthers, while Carter Verhaeghe had three assists in the win.

“It might have been natural for us to take a little bit to get going tonight, and it was the exact opposite,” said Tkachuk, whose putaway off the feed from Verhaeghe at the crease marked his first goal since Game 3 of the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “It was an unreal start from us. The goals aside, just the way we played in the first period was as good as it gets. Yeah, that’s just a hell of a road trip.”

Florida had already ripped home-ice advantage away Tuesday night with a 5-2 win, the opener in a rematch of the 2023 conference finals swept by the Panthers with four one-goal wins. Florida tightened its grip on the series with this one and now heads back south to host Game 3 on Saturday night.

Bennett scored a second time by skating in to clean up an attempt at the right post in the final minute of the second period to make it 4-0, ending a long shift in Carolina’s end prolonged by Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns being stuck on the ice after breaking his stick. Aleksander Barkov added a goal midway through the third as punctuation.

Bobrovsky had his third shutout of the playoffs this year and the sixth of his career, with Florida’s defense smothering a Carolina team that typically peppers the net with shots but found little daylight.

Florida has won four straight road games by a combined score of 22-4, this time sending Hurricanes fans fleeing for the exits early.

“It’s fun when you’re on the road and it goes quiet,” Verhaeghe said. “It feels like we’re doing our job.”

It wasn’t all great news for Florida. Veteran forward Sam Reinhart was knocked from the game in the first period after taking a hit from Sebastian Aho in the left leg, causing Reinhart’s knee to bend awkwardly.

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said after the game that Reinhart would be evaluated Friday and that there would be no update on Reinhart’s status until Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.