Ty Gibbs was on the verge of a potential breakout win during Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He qualified 10th and had the right strategy calls to punt on stage points for positioning for a win later.

It nearly paid off.

Late in the race, Gibbs was battling eventual race winner AJ Allmendinger on restarts while coming from 2nd. As much as he tried to get by, Allmendinger was just that much better. Kyle Busch later pushed his way by for second while William Byron came through to get by them both. Still, Gibbs settled for fourth to score his second top five finish in the last four races.

“Yeah, it was a really good day for the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team,” Gibbs said. “I need to be a little bit better and do a better job there towards the end. We made a couple adjustments on the car throughout the race, but overall, I just need to do a better job and capitalize on the restarts and finish it off at the end.”

Still, the 21-year-old rookie is driving beyond his years and showing that when we get to next season, he could be a playoff driver in just his sophomore year. He had 0 top 5 finishes but 5 top 10’s in his first 20 starts to the season. Over the last 12, he’s had four top 10 finishes, all being in the top 5.

He’s emerging on the scene.