Information By: TOYOTA RACING – LAS VEGAS, NV – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Taylor Gray was made available to the media on Saturday prior to the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 19 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
What does it mean to announce your plans for next season with Joe Gibbs Racing?
“Yeah, it means a lot – I’m really excited to get going. It has been great to work with all of the guys at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), and the goal is to go and have a really good year. I’m looking forward to it. I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to run these cars full time. They are so much fun to drive. I’m looking forward to it, but still trying to win a truck championship.”
Is it going to be difficult to compartmentalize with Ty Gibbs, your friend versus Ty Gibbs, the owner?
(laughter) “I think it is all good there.”
Can you talk about the advice that he is going to give you?
“Because I think he has won 11 or 12 Xfinity races and he is a Xfinity Series champion, so it is kind of hard to sit there and listen to his advice and not take it. He’s shown that he’s very successful in the racing series that he has ran in. I think I would be a fool to not sit there and take his advice.”
How do you feel like you’ve progressed this season?
“I think the biggest thing is just to get to run these cars more and more, and getting acclimated to how they drive compared to the truck – they are quite a bit different. They want different things, and they take different things, for me at least, to go fast in the cars, so just being able to get used to the cars and get acclimated with them more and understand what I like to feel in the Xfinity cars has been huge for me.”
What are reasonable expectations for your rookie season next year?
“It is kind of hard for me to pinpoint that, right? I don’t know. I haven’t really put much thought into it just because I am still focused on going and winning a Truck championship. Kind of have my back pinned against a wall on the Playoff side of things, on the Truck side. That is kind of my main focus. I haven’t out a lot of time into expectations, and things like that for next year, but I think everyone else’s expectation is for me to go and win races and run well. Honestly, the goal is to go and compete for wins and a championship.”
How difficult is it having this long of break in the Truck Series schedule?
“I’ve come to learn to hate the Truck Series schedule (laughter), because I have sat there in my points position and have been off for so many weeks and it has killed me inside, but yeah, it is tough – especially, when you are in a spot like I am and you have pretty good momentum going and it just stops – you have to stop for, I don’t know how long it has been for trucks, two or three weeks. It can be tough, but I think the biggest thing is getting back into and have to refocus.”
What do you want people to know about you as you move into the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season?
“That’s tough. That’s a tough question to answer. It’s a good question. I think the biggest thing for me – a lot of people view me as an underdog, like, I don’t have the wins that other people do. When you go and look on paper, I’m 1000 percent viewed as the underdog. I don’t mind that title. I like to fly under the radar, but I think, for me, it’s just going out and proving to people that I’m not some kid that was handed this.”
How important was it to get some races with your crew chief next season with Tyler Allen?
“It has been super important. Luckily, with the position that I was in with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) – they have two all-star cars that you can go between, and once, we got the position where we were looking, pretty much we were set on going Xfinity racing next year, I wanted to get two different feels from two different crew chiefs. JGR gave me a very fortunate opportunity where I could do that, so it has been awesome. Both crew chiefs were awesome to work with. I’m working with Seth (Chavka) this weekend and we’ve shown speed. They’ve both been good to work with. Me and Tyler (Allen) have just clicked right off the bat, and have gotten along really well, working with him the races that I have.”