Coy Randall Gibbs (December 9, 1972 – November 6, 2022) was an American racing driver, assistant coach with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

, and co-owner of

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

. He was the son of

Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...

, five-time

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

-winning owner and

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

Football

Gibbs played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1991 to 1994. He led the

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

. In 2004, after his father was re-hired as the Redskins coach, he joined the team as an offensive quality control assistant, serving in that capacity until 2007.

Racing career

Gibbs made his NASCAR debut in the

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

in 2000, sharing the driving duties of the No. 20

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

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. In 2003, he replaced Mike McLaughlin in the

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

, 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.

Kevin Harvick incident

One of Gibbs' more notable moments in NASCAR came in 2002, when he and

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and commentator for '' NASCAR on Fox''. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewa ...

raced in the spring Truck Series race at

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States, a community of Martinsville, Virginia. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1947, primarily events sanctione ...

. 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 Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969), nicknamed "the Biff", is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver. After racing in the NASCAR Winter Heat Series in the mid-1990s, he was recommended to Jack Roush by former race ...

after the

race at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

two weeks earlier, the incident with Gibbs resulted in Harvick being suspended from the Cup Series race at Martinsville one day later. Harvick was also fined $35,000 and was put into another probation for the rest of the year.

Motorcycle racing team

In August 2007, Gibbs announced the formation of Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross (JGRMX) competing in the AMA

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

and

supercross The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from ...

championships. The race shop for JGRMX was less than a 1-mile away from the NASCAR Cup Series teams located in

Huntersville, North Carolina Huntersville is a large suburban town in northern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Mecklenburg County () is a County (United States), county located in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of North Carolina, in the United States. As o ...

. Gibbs headed up the operation along with help from motocross industry veteran David Evans.

Personal life and death

Originally from

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

, Gibbs lived in

Cornelius, North Carolina Cornelius is a suburban town located along Lake Norman in northern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. It is a major suburb of Charlotte and part of its metropolitan area. The population was 31,412 at the 2020 census, up from 24, ...

with his wife Heather and their four children, sons Ty, Case, and Jett, and daughter Elle. Gibbs died in his sleep of unknown causes on November 6, 2022, at the age of 49, the night during which his son Ty won the

2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 41st season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the Daytona 300, Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300 on February ...

championship. His death was announced just prior to the

2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on November 6, 2022, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Contested over 312 laps on the one mile (1.6 km) oval, it was the 36th and final race of the 2022 ...

, and a moment of silence was held in his honor. Multiple drivers, including Christopher Bell,

Denny Hamlin James Dennis Alan Hamlin (born November 18, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing. He also co-owns and op ...

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation)#ZL1, Chevrolet ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and par ...

, and eventual race winner

Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No.22 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for NASCAR operations of Tea ...

, 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. The death prompted Ty to withdraw from the Cup Series season finale scheduled for the next day; he was replaced by

Daniel Hemric Daniel Brian Hemric (born January 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 19 Chevrolet Silverado RST for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing and part-time ...

for the race.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Coy 1972 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Huntersville, North Carolina Racing drivers from Charlotte, North Carolina NASCAR drivers Washington Redskins coaches American football linebackers Stanford Cardinal football players DeMatha Catholic High School alumni People from Cornelius, North Carolina Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Coaches of American football from North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina