Football and auto racing have mixed big time through Pro Football and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs, the three-time Super Bowl champion and five-time Cup series champion as team owner of his eponymous race team.
A victory Monday was nowhere near as startling as when the Mountaineers upset Michigan in 2007, but Kyle Busch’s triumph in a car celebrating Appalachian State in the Xfinity Series Alsco 300 race hit home big time for the football family.
The victory came as Busch regained the lead on the last lap and took the checkered flag for a special victory. Two of the sons of the late J.D. Gibbs — Joe’s son — Jackson and Miller are players on the Appalachian State football team.
J.D. Gibbs, who followed his famous father’s path from football to stock-car racing, died in January of 2019. He was 49 and suffered “complications following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease.
J.D. Gibbs played defensive back and quarterback at William & Mary from 1987-90,. He helped the school team to two Division I Football Championship Subdivision appearances; the team won 10 games in his senior season.
He then transitioned to join his father’s race team after his college career.
Jackson Gibbs is a junior quarterback, who transferred from UCLA. Miller Gibbs is a redshirt sophomore tight end.
