Ty GIbbs spins teammate Brandon Jones on final lap to win Xfinity race at Martinsville

In a controversial and highly contentious finish, Ty GIbbs won Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville Speedway after spinning out teammate Brandon Jones while racing for the lead entering Turn 1 on the final lap. It was Gibbs’ sixth win of the season, sending him to the Championship 4 while also directly denying his Joe GIbbs Racing teammate a chance at the championship as well.

Facing a must-win scenario in order to make the Xfinity Series Championship 4, Jones powered his way to the lead late in the race but received little to no slack from Gibbs, who had clinched a spot in the Championship 4 earlier in the race. Gibbs had raced Jones physical over the course of a series of late restarts, but Jones was able to grab the lead coming off Turn 4 to the white flag after taking Gibbs and Noah Gragson three-wide on the final restart.

Jones cleared Gibbs by the start/finish line, but Gibbs was able to clear Sheldon Creed to his inside to set up a move on Jones entering Turn 1. Gibbs drove directly into the left rear quarter panel of Jones, spinning him out and sending him into the outside wall as Gibbs went on to win the race.

The winning move was not a popular one. The Martinsville crowd immediately signaled their disapproval as Gibbs took the checkered flag, then mercilessly booed him as he climbed out of his car victorious as well as in Victory Lane. The fans’ derision took a more creative turn at one point, with mocking chants of “Thank you Grandpa” breaking out at the 20-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Fame car owner Joe Gibbs.

Gibbs tried to express in his post-race press conference that he hadn’t intended to wreck Jones. However, he did express that he was trying to race his teammate the same way he felt he’d been raced.

“I got off to a good start and got clear of the No. 2 (Creed) and then went to go give the No. 19 a push to get him back out of the groove, as he did the same to us,” Gibbs said. “I just hit him too hard, and that’s my fault. But we’re racing for wins here.”

Meanwhile, Jones — an Xfinity Series veteran at 25 — became an instant hero. He was cheered loudly when he was interviewed on the track jumbotron, and it was clear where he stood on his teammate as he spoke in post-race. Jones is leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the season to move to JR Motorsports, where he will take over the No. 9 Chevrolet vacated by Noah Gragson’s move to Cup.

“I had the race won, I think. I love my guys, I love everyone on this No. 19 group, but I’m excited to make my move to JRM next year and be a part of that organization,” Jones told NBC Sports. “A little bit more respect over there probably given next year. … I don’t know, man. I have no words.

“I know that we had some fun beating and banging back and forth a bit, but I’ve never wrecked him or done anything (like that) for a win. It just kind of shows where that level is there.”

Despite Gibbs’ prodigial talent as a race car driver being obvious from the time he won his Xfinity Series debut at Daytona last year, his unapologetic level of aggression combined with his standing as Joe Gibbs’ grandson has not endeared him to race fans. Gibbs was booed just as intensely in Martinsville’s spring race when he got in a fight with Sam Mayer, a race in which Jones made the winning move on Gibbs in the final laps.

Gibbs will join Noah Gragson, Josh Berry, and Justin Allgaier in the Championship 4 to compete for the Xfinity Series title next week at Phoenix Raceway. Jones, Mayer, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill — who got in a post-race fight on pit road with Myatt Snider — were eliminated from championship contention.

Sheldon Creed would finish second to Gibbs, followed by Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier. Sam Mayer, Nick Sanchez, Daniel Hemric, Austin Hill and Blaine Perkins rounded out the top 10.