SAWALICH DELIVERS CAREER-BEST RUN AT SONOMA
Rookie driver leads three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas inside the top-10 finishers
SONOMA, Calif. (July 12, 2025) – William Sawalich followed his Friday ARCA West victory with a career-best third-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race from Sonoma Raceway on Saturday afternoon. Sawalich ran in the top-five for the majority of the race and led a strong effort from the Team Toyota contingent.
His teammates, Riley Herbst (fifth) and Taylor Gray (seventh), also scored top-10 finishes, while Brandon Jones led all drivers with 19 stage points. Jones also earned a stage win to add to his Playoff total.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Sonoma Raceway
Race 19 of 33 – 156.95 miles, 79 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Connor Zilisch*
2nd, Shane Van Gisbergen*
3rd, WILLIAM SAWALICH
4th, Nick Sanchez*
5th, RILEY HERBST
7th, TAYLOR GRAY
13th, BRANDON JONES
18th, DEAN THOMPSON
36th, SAGE KARAM
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 Soundgear Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How rewarding is this after the challenge of the season so far?
“It was a great weekend for us. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing – I can’t thank the ARCA guys enough for yesterday, and the Xfinity guys today. They put together a good Soundgear GR Supra that was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. Just a great, great day to be honest. Our early run speed at times was comparable to them, but our long run, we couldn’t keep up with them. They were pretty dang good.”
What did you learn today, and what can you take forward?
“It definitely feels good to be able to do this and put a full race together and have everything go right – pit stops, everything was good on pit road, no penalties, very minimal mistakes. Just something to build on for the future.”
RILEY HERBST, No. 19 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
What else did you need out of your race car today?
“Yesterday – just my really poor qualifying effort, I felt like, I don’t think we could have ran with the 88 (Connor Zilisch) and the 9 (Shane Van Gisbergen), but I think we could have been a third-place car. Just thanks to everybody at Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing, Monster Energy. It was fun to come back to the Xfinity Series. This series is fun, and it was good practice for tomorrow. We are going to need the practice for tomorrow. Hopefully, we will have good run tomorrow too, and we will have a solid weekend here on the West Coast.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
After starting in the back, are you happy with a top-10 finish?
“Yeah, definitely happy. More so proud of all of my guys at Joe Gibbs Racing, Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) for bringing a really fast Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra. I feel like we were definitely as fast as Xfinity Mobile – just sucks starting in the back like that. You can’t do that. It kills your day points wise, stage points wise. Track position at the end of the race is so important. I feel like we were definitely a top-three car; just had to start so far back and build our track position back up.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 31 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
