BREAKING NEWS: Ty Gibbs Revealed to be Undercover CIA Agent

In a major blow to national security, rookie phenom Ty Gibbs was revealed today to be an undercover agent for the Central Intelligence Agency, voluntarily giving up the ruse before being exposed.

“It was all a ploy—there was never any ‘Ty Gibbs’, just Frank Brooks under a lot of youth cream”, said Special Agent Frank Brooks, a twelve-year veteran of the US intelligence agency.  “They were going to make a big splash by taking me out during a race next month, so I had to save face by doing the right thing.”

"Ty Gibbs"/Robert Brooks

Brooks—who refused to say who the “they” were who were about to blow his cover—had aroused some suspicion earlier by bursting onto the Nascar scene seemingly from out of nowhere.

“I really want to thank all the great people at Joe Gibbs Racing”, Brooks said, “for helping me with this ruse.  I mean, in retrospect, the matte-black car was a dead giveaway, but we really had ‘em fooled for about a year.”

Brooks was prevented from revealing any details of his mission—rumored to be dubbed “Project Vacuum”—but was optimistic that his failure didn’t spell doom for the United States.

“These things happen far more often than we’d like to admit”, Brooks said.  “We always have plans B, C, and D ready, so everyone can go back to enjoying Nascar without worrying that the country is in danger.  And by enjoy, of course I mean ‘complain incessantly about it’”.

Brooks’ government handler was also on-site and took some of the blame for the mission’s premature end.

“We didn’t really have the story believable enough for it not to arouse suspicion”, said a man known only as “Mr. Palmer”.  “I mean, really—JGR lets Erik Jones go due to lack of funding, then suddenly has enough money to run a sponsorless driver?  We should’ve figured that out from day one.”

File photo of Robert Brooks

Brooks then explained that he would be disappearing for a short period of time, though his career was far from over.

“I don’t think my work is done for the CIA”, Brooks said while “Mr. Palmer” nodded in agreement.  “After the plastic surgery and voice altering I could be back next year as an internet security advisor, a tourist in Central Asia—or maybe I just go race for the Haas F1 team, they’ll take ANYBODY.”