Around 3:00 p.m. ET, JGR released the following statement:
“It is with great sadness that Joe Gibbs Racing confirms that Coy Gibbs (co-owner) went to the Lord in his sleep last night. The family appreciates all of the thoughts and prayers and asks for privacy at this time.”
Both Coy’s father, JGR owner Joe Gibbs, and son Ty returned to North Carolina ahead of the start of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series championship race.
Christopher Bell, one of JGR’s Cup drivers, is one of four battling for the series title in Sunday’s race.
On Saturday night, Coy was at Phoenix Raceway when his 20-year-old son Ty, who drove for the family team, won his seventh race of the year and won his first NASCAR championship.
“I’ve been through that in several sports. Ty don’t,” Coy said after the race. “So it was more watching him and seeing how he’s going to react throughout the day. I think he just doubled down and did his job after making a big mistake last week.
“It was fun to see that.”
Coy, the son of NASCAR and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, is a former NASCAR driver and an assistant coach with the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
Gibbs was a linebacker at Stanford University from 1991-1994. Gibbs made his NASCAR debut in the Truck Series in 2000, sharing driving duties in the #18 Chevrolet with his brother JD, who died in 2019 after a long battle of complications with a degenerative neurological disease, also at the age of 49.
In 2001, Coy began racing full-time in the Truck Series, scoring two top 5 finishes and 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.
After being reinstated as Washington’s coach in 2004, Joe Gibbs joined the team as an offensive quality control assistant and served in that capacity until 2007.
Coy Gibbs founded the JGRMX team in 2008 and was promoted to his current role as Vice Chairman and COO in 2016, overseeing the organization’s NASCAR programs.
Coy and his wife Heather have four children – Ty, Case, Jett and Elle.