Taylor Gray addresses on-track ‘accident’ forcing Daniel Suárez into grass
Xfinity Series driver Taylor Gray reflected on his late-race skirmish with Daniel Suarez during The Chilango 150 and called it an 'accident'. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver admitted that he 'forced' Suarez off-track and hence believed the Mexican driver wasn't deserving of a track limits penalty.
With three laps remaining, Gray and Suarez were battling for the lead when the two made contact over turn 2. The Monterrey native went off track and skipped turn 3 to retake the lead, while Gray backed off and allowed him to recover. Consequently, Suarez crossed the finish line with a narrow margin of 0.598 seconds over Gray.
NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck shared Gray's thoughts on the incident with an X post.
"Taylor Gray, answering a question from @bobpockrass, says Suarez should not have gotten a penalty. Gray says he forced Suarez into the grass by accident and then let Suarez gather it back up because he didn’t feel like it would be right to take the lead then," he wrote.
Taylor Gray, answering a question from @bobpockrass, says Suarez should not have gotten a penalty. Gray says he forced Suarez into the grass by accident and then let Suarez gather it back up because he didn’t feel like it would be right to take the lead then.
Taylor Gray previously lost out on his first career-win on the last lap of the Martinsville race. He'd led a career-best 87 laps before Sammy Smith drove into his No.54 Toyota and sent him spinning. The scuffle led to a public fued between the two drivers, with Smith eventually apologizing for his mistake.
"I'm mad, frustrated,sad": Taylor Gray laments lost opportunity at Mexico
Taylor Gray cut a sorry figure after his second place finish at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The 20-year-old rued yet another near-miss in a 'car capable of winnning'.
Speaking to the media post race, Gray expressed his dissapointment, but remained grateful of JGR for giving him a competitive car.
"I mean just sucked, right. To come so close and I feel like have the car capable of winning, and I don’t know. I’m mad, frustrated, sad, all of it at the same time, but it was a good points day overall for us. I can’t thank everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing enough. They brought me a really fast Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra – as fast as Xfinity Mobile. Just going to take this momentum and keep it rolling,” he said via Speedway Digest.
Taylor Gray scooped up 53 points from the event, which bumped him a spot on the Driver's standings to land at 13th. He currently has a points haul of 374, and has secured seven top-10s and five top-5 finishes so far. The JGR driver has led a total of 123 laps this season but is yet to convert them into a race win. Moreover, he has also started on pole on two different occasions, at Homestead-Miami and Charlotte Motor Speedway, but as fate would have it, he finished outside the top-20 in both the events.