It can be done with “one phone call,” Denny Hamlin boldly declared earlier this season. We are two decades into the 21st century, and NASCAR has already changed its horsepower scenario by leaps and bounds. In the distant past, Cup Series cars fired their engines around 1000 hp. But currently, the Next-Gen cars boast a dwindling power of 670 hp, no more than a showroom sports car. So now, a teammate is seconding Hamlin’s claim.

Joe Gibbs’ cars had an overall bad run at the Watkins Glen race. A series of mishaps ravaged Hamlin’s car while his teammates struggled to piece together a run. While No. 11 called slyly out NASCAR for adding a road course to the playoffs, Ty Gibbs put it on the speed.

Did Ty Gibbs just raise a demand for 900 hp?

Before the Bristol race, we could see one Joe Gibbs Racing driver vehemently demanding higher horsepower. Even though NASCAR put forward cost-cutting and fair competition concerns in toning down horsepower, Denny Hamlin was adamant. He argued that no additional costs would come and going back to the old 750 mark, saying “wouldn’t change any of our durability we have.” But Ty Gibbs is rooting for an even higher mark after his disappointing run at the Glen.

Goodyear introduced a new tire compound, but no tire wear was visible. Christopher Bell also waxed despair about how he could not pass. The passing difficulty emerged due to another factor as well, as loudly harped upon by Denny Hamlin in the past. Now Ty Gibbs brought it up after the ‘Go Bowling at the Glen’ came to a disappointing end for the No. 54 Toyota, and NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck quoted him. “Until you put 900 horsepower in these things, you’re not going to do anything. You cannot pass. Sometimes I feel like, is this car designed for us not to pass?” 

Although Ty Gibbs started at P15, he carved his way to P4 place by the second stage. However, soon after the low-powered car stuttered his progress. Comparing his Cup woes to the Shriners Children’s 200, where he could run way better, Ty Gibbs said, “It’s so hard to pass compared to the Xfinity car. In the Xfinity car, you can cross people over and everything and in this thing, you can’t pass. It’s frustrating as a driver. I caught the guy in front of me from six seconds back. And I get to him and I just can’t do anything.”

Ultimately, Joe Gibbs’ grandson ended up his day in P22, just a place better than his teammate, Denny Hamlin, who faced multiple wrecks and spins on the tricky road course. Yet despite Gibbs’ claims, his Xfinity stints at the Glen have not been so good either – although fellow racers were responsible instead of low horsepower.

His runs at the Glen

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Well, low horsepower and faulty Goodyear tires are huge factors in Cup Series racing. Even though the former problem is not so prominent in the Xfinity Series, other problems exist. Ty Gibbs had to contend with a fierce and rising competitor, Connor Zilisch. The Trackhouse Racing prodigy manipulated the tricky turns smoothly and clinched his Xfinity debut win, becoming 7th in history to do so.

Meanwhile, the turns, or the “esses,” claimed Ty Gibbs with two laps to go. This late-race trouble echoed Gibbs’ fortune last year as well when he dominated 70 of 86 laps at Glen’s 2023 Xfinity race. However, right when it mattered, Sam Mayer sent Gibbs for a spin in Turn 1. And while Sam Mayer went on to clinch his second career win, Gibbs plummeted down the leaderboard to 17th place.

“I really wasn’t looking at my mirror like that,” Gibbs said of the restart, in which Mayer lined up behind him. “You know, I was like a car length or so in front of them, and I think he wheel-hopped and wrecked us there. So just something he did with that was a mistake on his part and completely cleaned us out.” 

He added, “I mean, doesn’t matter. I’m racing Cup on Sundays and start fourth tomorrow, so I’ve got a lot bigger things to look at.”

However, Joe Gibbs’ grandson faced horsepower problems in his bigger Cup ambitions. Hopefully, next weekend a second tire-wear showdown at Bristol will snuff out this problem temporarily.