Gibson started in the 1980s hanging car bodies for various NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series teams. While working as a body hanger he was befriended by Alan Kulwicki, a driver and owner in the Winston Cup Series, who was working in a nearby shop space. This led to Gibson becoming a mechanic on Kulwicki's team in 1986. Kulwicki's underdog team achieved a surprising Winston Cup championship win in 1992 with Gibson as car chief.[2]
After Kulwicki's death in 1993, until 1995, Gibson worked for former champion Bill Elliott helping him win the 1994 Southern 500 at Darlington.[3] From 1998 to 2001, Hendrick Motorsports hired Gibson to work on the 24 car with driver Jeff Gordon. In his 1st year with Hendrick, he scored 13 wins and the 1998 Winston Cup title. In his last season, he scored 6 wins and the 2001 Winston Cup title. The combination scored a total of 29 victories, and 2 championships in 4 years.
Gibson moved to Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 2002 where he worked various roles. As a crew chief he worked with Steve Park and later Michael Waltrip. In 2005, he moved to the car chief position for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and later worked as his crew chief for 12 races in 2007. Gibson moved over to Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s #8 Chevrolet, in 2008, driven part-time by Mark Martin and rookie Aric Almirola. His first full season as a Sprint Cup crew chief saw him help earn 4 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes.[2]
A new race team, Stewart-Haas Racing, created by a joint venture between Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, hired Gibson to lead the #39 of Ryan Newman.[4] A decision to pit for just 2 tires led to his first victory with Newman on April 10, 2010 in the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix.[5]
In 2017, Gibson was the winning crew chief at the Daytona 500, with Kurt Busch winning the race.
In 2018, Gibson came out of retirement and became the crew chief for the 4 of Kevin Harvick after crew chief Rodney Childers got suspended for the final 2 races of the season due to a L1 spoiler penalty.