Taylor Gray joins Brandon Jones in NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs
MADISON, Ill. (September 6, 2025) – William Sawalich nearly drove to his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory as the Minnesota-native earned his second straight runner-up finish to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. It was a strong night overall for Team Toyota with three Toyota GR Supras in the top-six finishers – Sawalich, Brandon Jones (fourth) and Aric Almirola (sixth).
Taylor Gray battled back being involved in a late-race incident to finish 17th. The Toyota Development Driver clinched a Playoff berth with the finish and will join his teammate Brandon Jones in the Round of 12 next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway
Race 26 of 33 – 200 miles, 160 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Connor Zilisch*
2nd, WILLIAM SAWALICH
3rd, Christian Eckes*
4th, BRANDON JONES
5th, Jesse Love*
6th, ARIC ALMIROLA
16th, DEAN THOMPSON
17th, TAYLOR GRAY
31st, GLEN REEN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 SoundGear Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What more did you need?
“That 88 (Connor Zilisch) car was pretty dang good tonight, just like everywhere else. I don’t know where we could have had some more. Compared to everyone else, we were turning pretty good – just didn’t have the raw speed like he had. We had a good SoundGear GR Supra. It was as fast as Xfinity Mobile. I can’t thank the guys enough. We made a good effort, and we are going to keep trying.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Pennington Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How important is a solid run tonight to kick off the Playoff push?
“Our group needed this, I think. We’ve had a lot of speed this entire year. It just seems like at the end of these races – you see how chaotic it gets there in the end, we don’t come away with a clean Supra, but at least a top-five. We had a lot of guests from Pennington come this weekend, so I’m excited to get them at top-five. All-in-all, I’m happy with a top-five, but I want to be a couple spots better, but right now our group is really locked in, which is a nice thing, coming up on one of our best race tracks at Bristol – I think as a whole, as a company, we are really, really solid there. This is great momentum. We had a really solid day put together. It is hard to be angry when that happens.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 17th
What has to change before we get to Bristol?
“I think just executing. There have been a lot of races where we have been in contention to win with our Operation 300 GR Supra and we just haven’t executed and closed the deal out. Just focusing, and emphasizing the execution of these races and closing them out. Tonight was not our best night in terms of how we ran. We definitely struggled. We definitely weren’t as fast as Xfinity Mobile, but just have to be better in terms of execution and closing these races out.”
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 2025, Toyota’s plant in North Carolina began to assemble automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
