Despite Fuel Saving Late, Gray Hangs Onto COTA Top 10

Taylor Gray in action at Circuit of the Americas. (Danny Hansen/NKP for Toyota GAZOO Racing photo)

AUSTIN, Texas – Fuel mileage bit Taylor Gray late in Saturday’s Focused Health 250, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie had to sacrifice positions to make it to the end of the race, but still hung on for a top-10 finish.

After leading three laps while fighting a tight race car, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver pitted just before the end of the second stage at Circuit of the Americas.

Gray was battling with eventual race winner Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil at the time, as all three hit pit road simultaneously. The three Xfinity Series rookies all flipped the stage to go for the race win.

By flipping the stage, Gray’s No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra restarted the final green flag run inside the top five. The 20-year-old slipped behind the Chevrolet quartet of Zilisch, Kvapil, Austin Hill, and William Byron in the opening laps of the final stage.

He maintained that position until he was informed by his Jason Ratcliff-led team that he was a lap short on fuel.

As Gray began saving fuel, he slowly gave up spots on track. He slipped behind Christian Eckes, Jesse Love, and Sam Mayer, but the Denver, N.C., native stabilized his on-track freefall from there and saved enough fuel to take the checkered flag seventh.

“I feel like we really struggled the first three quarters of the race just being really tight everywhere and just kept working all day,” Gray said. “I can’t thank my Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. They kept working on the Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra all day and we never gave up.

“I feel like we got the car okay there at the end and unfortunately, we got in a little bit of a tight fuel spot and started having to save quite a bit of fuel and gave up quite a bit of track position there. Then whenever I’d go to take back off, I just didn’t really have any rear grip to support me in going fast. Just have to regroup and refocus toward Phoenix (Raceway) and get after it.”

Gray qualified for the first road course of the Xfinity Series season in seventh. Like many of the regulars in the field, he flipped both stages, pitting before the end of each and giving up stage points. Gray started stage two in the lead, briefly battling with Love before falling back.

The seventh-place finish was the Sunoco rookie-of-the-year contender’s second in three races and the fifth in his Xfinity Series career. It moved Gray up from 13th to eighth in the point standings, seven above the playoff cutline.

Next for Gray is the GOVX 200 at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway. He has four NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at the one-mile track, with a best finish of sixth in the season finale last year.

The GOVX 200 at Phoenix is scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at 5 p.m. ET on The CW. The race will also be broadcast on both the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.