Taylor Gray, No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion
Coming off his first career ARCA Menards Series West victory at Kern County Raceway Park in California two weeks ago, Taylor Gray is ready to get back to work at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway this Saturday to go for his second win in the series in the No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion. This will be his first start at the one-mile oval, but he is used to racing at new tracks this season and it has not slowed him down yet.
This will be Gray’s fifth ARCA West start this season with one win, two top-five, three top-10 finishes and one pole. In addition to those, he has also made 12 ARCA Menards Series starts with eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. He has also run five ARCA East races earning two top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Gray has a new crew chief calling the shots at Phoenix. Former NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Chad Johnston joined DGR-Crosley to work with Gray. Johnston has seven wins, 64 top-five, 124 top-10 finishes and 10 poles in the Cup Series as a crew chief.. His experience and knowledge will be a great asset for the 15-year-old rookie.
The Arizona Lottery 100 will stream live on Trackpass on NBC Gold at 2pm ET on Saturday. The race will be 100 laps (100 miles) with a race break at lap 50.
Gray on Phoenix: “I think I’m going into Phoenix with a bit more confidence after winning at Kern a couple weeks ago. I’ll still have the same positive mindset as every race and try to keep the expectations realistic and see what it brings us.
“I’ll have David and Todd (Gilliland) as teammates at Phoenix. David and I were teammates once this year at Dover in the ARCA East race and he beat me. It will help that Todd is running the truck race the night before, so maybe I can lean on him for a few tips of what worked for him. I’m going to treat it like a normal race and race them just like any other competitor. Having their feedback during and after practice will be helpful, but during the race even teammates are competitors in the final laps.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
