NASCAR
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Taylor Gray was frustrated after an overtime crash sent his truck airborne and upside down at Daytona on Friday night.
Gray was positioned in the second spot on the white flag lap of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250, when Rajah Caruth got up the track and clipped the No. 91 of Jack Wood. Wood’s truck spun toward the inside and clipped Taylor Gray, sending the 18-year-old Gray backward in front of a hard-charging pack.
Gray was hit head-on, immediately lifting his No. 17 Toyota Tundra, and landing it upside down on Christian Eckes’ No. 19 Silverado. Gray eventually landed on his wheels and was transported to the infield care center.
“I like Rajah (Caruth) a lot, I just don’t know what he was doing,” Gray said after being released from the infield care center. “Look at the replay, there’s no hole to get in…I don’t know if he was trying to stall the lane and misjudged it or what…
“It sucks really bad. We were in a really good position to win. But, it got taken away from us. I’m pissed off.”
The Craftsman Truck Series race was very aggressive from the start. Aside from the typical instability of the trucks in the draft, there seemed to be questionable moves, blocks and pushes from the drop of the green flag.
After it was all said in done, 51% of the race was run under the yellow flag and the average green flag run was a mere 4.1 laps.
Now more than ever, the series needs a strong showing after back-to-back embarrassing runs at November’s championship event and last night’s parade of a race. However, the truckers next move on to Atlanta Motor Speedway on February 24. Since AMS’s reconstruction back in 2022, the track races much like a superspeedway, opening the door for more chaos.
When the point about going to a superspeedway-like Atlanta next weekend was brought up to Taylor Gray, he declined to comment.
Check out Gray’s full post-race comments here:
Written by Noah Lewis
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Photo Credit to Noah Lewis/TSJSports, Fox Sports Video
