Ty Gibbs Breaks Silence on Controversial Bristol Water Bottle Toss

While the Carson Hocevar/Ryan Blaney fight stole the headlines from Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, Ty Gibbs made quite the subplot. During the fight, the driver of the No. 54 chucked a plastic water bottle into the middle of the chaos.

The water bottle struck the phone of Fronstretch reporter Michael Massie, causing it to smack the ground. While Massie took to X and said he was OK, he revealed his phone suffered minor scratches from the incident.

Gibbs was not penalized for the action but it was revealed this week that NASCAR would have a discussion with the 23-year-old.

Ty Gibbs address water bottle toss at Bristol

During media availability on Saturday at Kansas, a Frontstretch reporter gifted Gibbs a water bottle in a humorous exchange. 

“Cheers to Frontstretch. I like it,” Gibbs said in response.

Gibbs explained that he did not have a specific target when throwing the water bottle. As he was watching the fight unfold, he decided to chuck it in the pile when Blaney broke free of security and went back after Blaney.

Unfortunately, Gibbs said it ended up hitting a reporter. 

“I obviously watched the beginning of it [the fight] and then I saw Blaney shoot back in there and then I just tossed it. … Unfortunately hit [Michael Massie],” Gibbs said. 

As reported earlier this week, NASCAR had a conversation with Gibbs about not throwing water bottles in the future. Gibbs did not detail much of the talk with NASCAR but understood that it was something he probably should not have done.

“I went to the principal’s this morning. Just had a chat. Just don’t do it. … I completely understand. Definitely shouldn’t have done that,” Gibbs said. 

Gibbs then joked about the amount of media who wanted to talk to him on Saturday. If he were to continue to throw water bottles, Gibbs laughed that he might get more media attention.

“It’s also great to have a lot of people here. Usually there’s no one here for me. This is the most attention I’ll get. Maybe I keep tossing water bottles to get more attention,” Gibbs said. 

Ty Gibbs rolls off fifth on Sunday at Kansas Speedway

After Mother Nature washed out NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Saturday at Kansas, the starting lineup was set by the metric. Based on that, Gibbs will roll off fifth in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400.

Gibbs ranks fifth in the points standings after three Chase races, 42 points behind leader Kyle Larson. At Kansas, the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs has two top-10 finishes in eight starts, with a best finish of fifth in September 2024.

Gibbs won his first career Cup race last April at Bristol and picked up his second career win last August at Iowa.