Taylor Gray, No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion
Start: 1st
Finish: 3rd
Gray earned his second career ARCA Menards General Tire Pole Award and paced the field to the initial green flag. He led the opening 10 laps before being overtaken on lap 11.
A long green flag run allowed the No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion to find its groove and reassume the lead on lap 65. Caution flag waved on lap 90 and the team would pit for four tires and fuel.
A discrepancy on pit road relegated the No. 17 to restarting fourth. Gray quickly moved into third and held steady there until a caution on lap 164. Rain began to fall during this caution period and resulted in the race being under red flag conditions for well over an hour.
ARCA officials corrected the error from the prior pit sequence when cars returned to the track for the closing laps, which placed Gray in 2nd place for the restart. A quick yellow on the opening lap would set up a green-white-checkered finish. Gray took the lead coming to the white flag, but was bumped out of the groove in turns 3 & 4 and narrowly finished third in a three-wide photo finish.
Gray on New Smyrna: “It was just a short track last lap deal. The 18 tried to move me and didn’t do it right. It’s unfortunate to lead that many laps and not come away with a win, but on the positive side we had a really fast Ford Performance Fusion all day long. We will take the podium finish and move on to Pensacola to hopefully redeem ourselves and get a win.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
