Taylor Gray Scores First Win at Martinsville

Taylor Gray celebrating his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series victory at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

RIDGEWAY, Va. — Taylor Gray won the IAA & Richie Bros. 250 at Martinsville Speedway for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.

The victory was a redemption one for Gray, who had been leading late before being involved in an incident in the last two races at Martinsville Speedway.

“About damn time I get me a clock,” Gray said. “I cannot thank everybody on this (No. 54) team enough. Such an awesome racecar.”

Gray led a race-high 52 laps en route to not only scoring his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, but his first national series victory as well. After a caution in the closing laps sent the race to overtime, Gray lined up next to Sammy Smith on the front row and pulled away to win the race.

Taylor Gray burning it down after winning the IAA & Richie Bros. 250 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

“I knew I needed to get a good enough launch so that I wouldn’t have anyone in reach of me heading into Turn 1,” said Gray. “At that point, I knew we had a good enough car to drive away from the guys behind me.”

With the second-place finish, Smith was eliminated from the playoffs, giving the final transfer spot to JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil. It now marks the third consecutive season Smith has finished inside the top three at Martinsville, with a chance to win his way into the Championship 4, including back-to-back runner-up finishes.

“I feel like we’re good enough to be in the final four,” said Smith. “We weren’t good enough in the playoffs to do that. It really sucks, so we’ll just regroup and keep digging.”

Kvapil, who entered the race 11 points above the cutline, was sitting in a favorable position late in the race until getting spun around off the bumper of Ryan Sieg on Lap 227.

Carson Kvapil locked himself into the Championship 4 during the IAA & Richie Bros. 250 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

“It was probably the most nerve-racking racing I’ve done in my career,” said Kvapil. “We were sitting in a pretty good spot before we got turned around there. I thought we were in a good situation to just kind of ride it out, try not to make any enemies and just try and finish the race out.”

The spin moved him to eight points below the cutline, opening the door for Smith and Brandon Jones to potentially steal the final transfer spot in the closing laps. Despite the setback, Kvapil was able to work his way back through the field to finish in 18th place and score enough points to advance.

“When that happened, I was kind of like ‘we’re done,'” Kvapil said. “This whole No. 1 group really fought hard all race long to give us an opportunity to get to this spot to be in the final four, and I can’t thank them enough for that.”

JR Motorsports earned three of the four Championship 4 spots, as Kvapil will join teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier to fight for a title next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Jesse Love advanced to his first Championship 4 with a 22nd-place finish at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

The other title competitor will be Jesse Love, who, after scoring an eventful 22nd-place finish, clinched a spot in the Championship 4 on points.

“It’s a relief, but not to say you ever take it for granted, but I expected coming in here to be moving on to Phoenix,” Love said. “I didn’t expect it to be as blue-collar a night as it was, but I know that we’ll be good at Phoenix. I know it’s my best race track.”

Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer were also eliminated, alongside Smith and Jones, from the playoffs after scoring fourth and seventh-place finishes, respectively.

Elimination wasn’t the main discussion point around Mayer following the race; it was the feud between him and Jeb Burton, which resulted in Burton’s No. 27 getting turned into the wall after the race concluded.

“He’s (Burton) just fast enough to be really annoying, but not fast enough to do anything else worth a damn,” said Mayer. “It sucks to be in that spot around him. Jeb needs a wake-up call.”

Sam Mayer (No. 41) and Jeb Burton
(No. 27) battling during the IAA & Richie Bros. 250. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)

The frustrations boiled over from last weekend’s race at Talladega Superspeedway, where Burton was one of the drivers in the middle of causing an incident.

“Last week he caused a demolition derby and a parking lot on the front straightaway at the fastest race track we got to,” Mayer said. “Now he just decides to be an absolute dumbass this go around and race a guy with a purple spoiler (playoff indicator). It was awful to be around him all day.”

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship takes place at Phoenix Raceway on Friday, November 1, at 7:30 p.m. EST on The CW, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Aric Almirola
3. Brenden Queen
4. Brandon Jones
5. Sam Mayer
6. Connor Zilisch
7. Harrison Burton
8. Christian Eckes
9. Sheldon Creed
10. Corey Day

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Carson Kvapil
2. Brenden Queen
3. Christian Eckes
4. Sam Mayer
5. Taylor Gray
6. Justin Allgaier
7. Brandon Jones
8. Aric Almirola
9. Sheldon Creed
10. Anthony Alfredo

IAA & Richie Bros. 250 at Martinsville Speedway Finishing Results