Taylor Gray after finishing second at COTA. ( Photo: Sean Folsom | The Podium Finish)
DEL VALLE, Texas– Taylor Gray recovered from a penalty to hold on second place during the XPEL 225 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at COTA.
Gray had an eventful start to Saturday’s race at COTA. Starting from the third position, Gray made a quick move at the restart, challenging the pole sitter, Connor Zilisch for the lead. Zilisch locked his front tires entering Turn 1, giving Gray the advantage momentarily. Nevertheless, Gray’s aggressive moves led to him receiving a pass-through penalty for cutting Turn 3 on Lap 1.
“I thought I ruined our race at the beginning of the race by getting that penalty, but just can’t thank all of our guys enough” Gray recalled after the race.
Taylor Gray wheels his No. 17 Toyota Tundra TRD around COTA ( Photo: Cody Porter | The Podium Finish )
Gray kept his composure behind the wheel and focused on the task at hand as he worked his way back up. In Stage 1, Gray finished outside the Top 20. But by Stage 2, however, Gray had piloted his No. 17 Factory Canopies Toyota Tundra TRD Pro back into the top five to earn stage points.
Taylor Gray races hard in The XPEL 225 at COTA ( Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
With five laps remaining, the stopped No. 33 truck of Lawless Alan caused NASCAR to throw a caution, re-racking the field for a restart. When NASCAR dropped the green flag for the remaining three laps, Taylor Gray found himself in third place.
NASCAR had to throw the yellow again, this time with two laps remaining as the rear-end housing came off of Marco Andretti’s truck. Now, Gray found himself inside of NASCAR Overtime. The two-lap shootout remained caution-free and Gray made it to the finish line, earning himself second place.
“I can’t thank everyone at TRICON Garage enough for bringing me a really good JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.” Gray said. “We put ourselves in position and Jeff (Hensley, crew chief) did a great job with the strategy, just couldn’t attack on those last couple of laps. Something to figure out on how to give him a little bit of a tougher race at the end, but those guys executed all day long and we have to keep executing ourselves.”
Hear from Taylor Gray, who finished second in the #NASCAR truck race at COTA.
Also, check the thread below for more interviews from @NASCARatCOTA ⬇️
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The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, April 5 at 7:30 P.M ET for the Long John Silver’s 200. The race will air on FOX Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
