At about 3 p.m. ET, JGR released the following statement:
“It is with great sorrow that Joe Gibbs Racing confirms that Coy Gibbs (co-owner) went to be with the Lord in his sleep last night. The family appreciates all the thoughts and prayers and asks for privacy at this time.”
Both Coy’s father, JGR owner Joe Gibbs, and his son, Ty, returned to North Carolina prior to the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race.
Christopher Bell, one of JGR’s Cup drivers, is one of four competing for the series title in Sunday’s race.
On Saturday night, Coy was at Phoenix Raceway as his 20-year-old son, Ty, driving for the family’s team, won his seventh race of the year and captured his first NASCAR championship.
“I’ve been through this before in multiple sports. Ty hasn’t,” Coy said after the race. “So, it was more watching him and seeing how he’s going to react during the day. I think he’s just doubled down and did his job after making a huge mistake last week.
“It was fun to watch that.”
Coy, the son of NASCAR and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, is a former NASCAR driver and assistant coach with the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
Gibbs was a linebacker at Stanford University from 1991 to 1994. Gibbs made his NASCAR debut in the Truck Series in 2000, sharing the driving duties of the No. 18 Chevrolet with his brother, J.D., who died in 2019 from complications following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease, also at the age of 49.
In 2001, Coy began racing fulltime in the Truck Series, posting two top-five finishes, and then finishing 10th in the series standings the following year. In 2003, he replaced Mike McLaughlin in what is now the Xfinity Series, with two top-10 finishes.
In 2004, after Joe Gibbs was re-hired as Washington’s coach, he joined the team as an Offensive Quality Control assistant, serving in that capacity until 2007.
Coy Gibbs founded the JGRMX team in 2008 and in 2016 was named to his current role of vice chairman and COO and overseeing the organization’s NASCAR programs.
Coy and his wife, Heather, have four children – Ty, Case, Jett and Elle.
Today we will do what we don’t want to do, but we we will unite as a family and race for the name on our chest. @JoeGibbsRacing
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) November 6, 2022
