No. 54 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra News and Notes
DILLON AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY: Ty Dillon owns one top10 finish in five career NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) starts at Talladega Superspeedway. Dillon’s last NXS start at the 2.66-mile superspeedway was in 2017 where he started seventh and crossed the finish line 14th. Dillon also has eight NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega. His best finish came in 2020 when he finished third.
CHANGE OF SCENERY: The 2021 season provides a new opportunity for the Lewisville, North Carolina native as Dillon joins Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) for select NXS races. These races include the season opener at Daytona International Speedway (February 13), Homestead-Miami Speedway (February 27), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Mach 6) and Talladega Superspeedway (April 24).
ATOP THE PIT BOX: Veteran crew chief Chris Gayle will oversee the No. 54 team’s efforts this season. In his career, the Little Rock, Arkansas native has led his drivers to two NASCAR Cup Series victories and 20 Xfinity Series wins. The list of drivers Gayle has visited victory lane with includes Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Sam Hornish Jr., Erik Jones and Elliott Sadler.
NO. 54 DRIVER LINEUP: Several drivers will pilot the No. 54 in 2021. The list includes Gibbs, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.
JGR AT TALLADEGA: The JGR Xfinity Series team has earned five victories at Talladega Superspeedway. In 55 combined starts, the organization has posted 16 top-five finishes, 23 top-10s and 314 laps led at the 2.66-mile tri-oval. Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Mike McLaughlin, Elliott Sadler, and Tony Stewart have taken JGR to victory lane at Talladega.
TUNE IN: Coverage of this week’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for Saturday, April 24, at 4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Ty Dillon, Driver of the No. 54 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra
“Talladega and Daytona are often looped together in the same category. Do you drive both the same or are there any differences that come into play?
“I believe Talladega and Daytona are very similar in approach. There seems to be more room at Talladega to make moves and put yourself in a safer position, just because the track surface seems wider. Talladega is an exhilarating and exciting race that I look forward to though. For whatever reason, I have confidence going into the superspeedway races. On the Cup side, I’ve been able to have one of the best average finishes of any driver over the last five years at Talladega. That is always a good confidence boost and trivia fun fact that is cool to have. I feel like I have an opportunity to win at Talladega no matter what I’m in and I know the Mobil 1 Supra is going to be fast once again.”
Chris Gayle, Crew Chief of the No. 54 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra
“Our team is really excited to get back on track in Talladega this weekend. We’ve had a couple of off weekends early in this season, so it’s nice to get back to the track and back in a racing routine again. We had a really good run with Ty Dillon in Daytona that got cut short due to a crash. We feel like we have strong superspeedway cars and were able to add to our notebook from Daytona with Ty driving. We haven’t been able to get a finish with Ty that has been representative of the speed we’ve had in the races, so we’re really looking forward to getting that done this weekend in Talladega. Ty’s drafting experience will really help our program this weekend, so we all can’t wait to get going. Hopefully we can get him that strong finish (or win) and avoid the rain this weekend.”
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
