Toyota drivers opened the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs with two top-10 finishes in Sunday’s race at the Milwaukee Mile. TRICON Garage teammates Taylor Gray finished fifth and Corey Heim finished seventh to open their 2024 Playoff run.
Taylor Gray had a strong start to his NCTS championship bid, scoring his sixth top-five and 10th top-10 finish of the season at the one-mile oval. Heim came back from an early pit road penalty to earn his 13th top-10 finish of the season with his seventh-place result.
Heim currently sits third in the Playoff point standings and Gray is fifth with both drivers above the eight-driver cutline after the first Playoff race.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
The Milwaukee Mile
Race 16 of 23 – 175 Laps, 177.62 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Layne Riggs*
2nd, Ty Majeski*
3rd, Christian Eckes*
4th, Nick Sanchez*
5th, TAYLOR GRAY
7th, COREY HEIM
11th, TANNER GRAY
14th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
19th, DEAN THOMPSON
20th, STEWART FRIESEN
25th, TIMMY HILL
34th, JUSTIN CARROLL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your race today?
“It kind of started down and definitely just made our truck better all day. Props to Jeff Hensley (crew chief) making awesome adjustments on the box and getting us upfront and being able to contend for a top five. It’s a step in the right direction. Just got to work on getting a little bit better in terms of the speed and things like that to contend for wins right now. I can’t thank my guys enough at TRICON Garage for bringing me a really good JBL Tundra TRD Pro. Just needed a little bit more to contend for a top-three or a win.”
What was tire conservation like during the race?
“It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a little guy racing late models. I enjoy it, it’s fun and it definitely brings up a little bit more strategy in the race for sure.”
How was your Tundra handling at the end of the race?
“It was a little tight there and honestly lacked some track position, but I can’t thank all of my TRICON guys for bringing me a really good JBL Tundra TRD Pro. Just needed some track position to get a little bit more pace there.”
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 7th
Was the speeing penalty early in the race a surprise to you?
“Yeah, just sped on pit road. I got behind on my gearing kind of approaching pit road and by the time I caught up to what RPM I needed to be running at, I was already kind of deep into pit road and obviously just blew it there, so it’s my responsbility to make sure I’m accounting for that. Overall, we lacked speed in general today, but certainly put us behind the eight ball there so I didn’t do us any favors either. Just got to get better as a whole regardless. I thought we fired off okay today and probably could’ve stayed up in the top five area if we had not had my mistake go wrong there, but I’m proud of my TRICON Garage guys.”
Your team was able to get you back toward the front with a great pit stop, did you struggle with handling down the stretch?
“I think just getting behind and getting in dirty air is definitely a struggle here and always kind of has been on these flatter race tracks in general in the Truck Series. Just getting behind is really tough to recover from and I kind of pride myself on limiting my mistakes, but today was kind of rough.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
