Overcoming late-race damage, Taylor Gray finished second in Friday’s Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, coming eerily close to his first career victory. The driver of the No. 17 Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage began the day in fifth position and stayed towards the front of the field during the first stage, earning stage points at the end. Gray kept himself in the hunt throughout the day, until he was caught up in a wreck with 23 laps to go that caused minor damage to his Tundra TRD Pro. The 19-year-old didn’t let this adversity deter him and came home second at the checkered flag, 0.041 seconds away from victory.
The result is Gray’s seventh top-five finish of the season, third in the last five races, and his 11th top-10.
William Sawalich began the day from pole position, becoming the youngest polesitter in Talladega Superspeedway history across NASCAR’s three national series at 18 years and 1 day old – as well as becoming the fourth-youngest polesitter in Truck Series history. Unfortunately, after Stage 1, the Minnesotan experienced electrical issues and finished 27th at the day’s end. Corey Heim started the race in the ninth position and earned stage points in both stages, ending the day 11th position after being collected in the last lap incident.
The NCTS returns to action at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 26, for the second race of the Round of 8.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 20 of 23 – 85 Laps, 226.1 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Grant Enfinger*
2nd, TAYLOR GRAY
3rd, Daniel Dye*
4th, Rajah Caruth*
5th, Lawless Alan*
11th, COREY HEIM
13th, STEWART FRIESEN
18th, MASON MAGGIO
27th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
30th, TANNER GRAY
32nd, DEAN THOMPSON
34th, JOHNNY SAUTER
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 17 A Place of Hope Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 2nd
How were you able to overcome the damage and get a second-place finish?
“Yeah, just stayed engaged all day and fought with my TRICON Garage guys. Can’t thank TRICON, Toyota enough for bringing really fast Toyota Tundra TRD Pros. Just need to figure out why I’m finishing everywhere else and not capable of winning yet. I don’t know if I’m living life wrong somewhere.”
Would you say your mission was accomplished for today?
“Yeah, at the end of the day, can’t be too upset. You’re pretty lucky if you can finish second (here, Talladega). Can’t thank my TRICON Garage guys enough for sticking with me and staying with it all day. Didn’t get the stage points we needed to really go anywhere in points. I don’t know, we’re living life wrong. Have come so close to winning these things and haven’t been able to do it.”
COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 11th
What did you see in that last lap crash?
“Just riding on the bottom, didn’t really see what happened. Three or four trucks in front of me checked up and really nowhere to go. Was feeling the accordion pretty bad, and just got collected.”
How do you feel about the next two tracks in this round?
“Yeah, I feel really good about it. The two next ones (Homestead and Martinsville) have been historically really good for us. I ran there (Homestead) last year, and I think we won both stages. Goal remains the same, we’re going there to win and I think our points situation is decent still so have to go be smart and get to Phoenix.”
TANNER GRAY, No. 15 Dead on Tools Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 30th
Take us through the late-race accident there.
“Yeah, I thought we were puting ourselves in a decent position, getting stage points there in both stages. I thought our green flag stop there went okay and got lined up there with teammates and was making good time. And then, we kind of just got split up and I got stuck on the top lane and we were just all trying hard to push to get back even with the bottom lane. I don’t know, I was pushing the 13 (Jack Garcia) and released him going into the corner and I don’t know if he just got loose or he was still connected to the 38 (Layne Riggs) or kind of what happened. But yeah, they both got loose and went down the race track and I just kind of stayed top and tried to throttle up to get past them and everybody ended up in the fence there.”
DEAN THOMPSON, No. 5 Boot Campaign Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage
Finishing Position: 32nd
What did you see there in that accident?
“Honestly, I don’t know. I didn’t see anything, they just started wrecking there. My spotter told me to go low and I went low and I started getting free as I crossed from the banking to the apron, tried to hold onto it and then spun. The truck was dead. They should’ve pushed me to pit road, but didn’t.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
