Taylor Gray will be ascending to the NASCAR Xfinity Series division on a full-time basis with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in 2025.
The news comes as the 19-year-old Gray from Artesia, New Mexico, has spent this season competing on a full-time basis in the Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage, where he is one of eight competitors still contending for the title in this year’s Playoffs, and on a part-time basis in the Xfinity Series for JGR.
For the 2025 Xfinity season, Gray will be piloting the No. 54 Toyota entry that will be led by Tyler Allen, who is currently in his first full-time season as a NASCAR crew chief between JGR’s Nos. 19 and 20 team. Through 29 of 33-scheduled events, Allen has led the No. 20 team to seven victories between four competitors as the team remains in contention for the 2024 Xfinity owner’s championship. Allen has also worked with Gray for four events this season, where their current best result is a fifth-place run at Pocono Raceway this past July.
“I am very thankful for this opportunity,” Gray said in a released statement. “I feel like I have learned a lot in the races I have ran this year, and we can build on that next season. Being able to work with [crew chief] Tyler [Allen] and these guys for a few races has been a great head start on next season and getting that chemistry going, so I’m really excited about what we can do running together full-time.”
Gray, a nine-time race winner across the ARCA Menards Series’ platforms, made his Xfinity Series debut at Richmond Raceway this past April, where he notched an impressive third-place result while driving JGR’s No. 19 Toyota entry. He would proceed to compete in 11 additional events, where he earned an additional top-five result, an eighth-place run at Michigan International Speedway in August and four additional results in the top 15 during the span. The New Mexico native is scheduled to make his 13th Xfinity start of the 2024 season this upcoming Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In addition to his part-time Xfinity campaign, Gray has made a total of 53 starts in the Truck Series, to date. During the 53-race campaign, he has recorded 10 top-five results, 19 top-10 results, 28 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.1. This season, Gray made the 2024 Truck Series Playoffs on the strength of five top-five results and nine top-10 results throughout the series’ 16 regular-season events. After transferring from the Playoff’s Round of 10 to 8, he recently tied his career-best result in the series by finishing in second place at Talladega Superspeedway. With the result, Gray is ranked in sixth place in the Playoff standings and is 13 points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 round with two Round of 8 events remaining.
“We’re looking forward to adding Taylor to our lineup full-time next year,” Steve de Souza, executive vice president of Xfinity Series and development for JGR, added. “Taylor’s strong season in the Truck Series, along with his performance with us on the Xfinity side, have been impressive. With Taylor in the Xfinity car every week in 2025, we expect that trend to continue, and we’re looking forward to him competing for wins and the championship.”
Gray’s addition to JGR completes the organization’s second piece of its Xfinity Series lineup in 2025 as Brandon Jones was announced to be returning to JGR on a full-time in 2025 this past September.
Additional partners for Gray’s entry along with the rest of JGR’s Xfinity Series lineup for the upcoming season remain to be determined.
With his 2025 plans set, Taylor Gray’s next NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season is set to occur this upcoming Saturday, October 19, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ambetter Health 302 that will air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network. Gray’s 2024 Truck Series Playoff run is also set to continue on October 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second Round of 8 event.
