GRAY LEADS THREE TOYOTAS IN THE TOP-SIX AT WATKINS GLEN
Crews scores first stage win, leads the most laps
WATKINS GLEN, NY (May 9, 2026) – Taylor Gray saved just enough gas and crossed the finish line in third to lead Toyota in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Watkins Glen International on Saturday. The Kansas-winner moved back inside the top-10 in points with his top-five run.
Brandon Jones finished fifth, his career-best at Watkins Glen. It is his fourth consecutive top-10 finish, and moved him up to a season-best fourth in points.
Toyota Development Driver Brent Crews was impressive throughout the race as he won his first career stage and led a race-high 32 laps before a vibration in the final laps caused his pace to slow down. He was able to hold on to finish sixth – his fifth consecutive top-six finish. Despite missing four races before turning 18 in March, Crews has now moved inside the Chase field as he sits 11th overall.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS)
Watkins Glen International
Race 13 of 33 – 200.9 miles, 82 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Connor Zilisch*
2nd, Jesse Love*
3rd, TAYLOR GRAY
4th, Ross Chastain*
5th, BRANDON JONES
6th, BRENT CREWS
17th, HARRISON BURTON
30th, GLEN REEN
35th, DEAN THOMPSON
36th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What were the challenges of saving fuel at the end?
“First of all, super proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, and thank you to TOYOTA RACING, Operation 300 and M-Experiment. It was challenging at times. I was just trying to execute my job inside the car, saving fuel and lifting early, shorting my shifts up to make it to the end. Really proud of Jason Ratcliff (crew chief) for that strategy call. Really good strategy. I felt like straight up we were a fifth-to-seventh place car, but obviously really proud of everyone on the 54 team to be able to score a better finish.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Pelonis Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Top-five at Watkins Glen. Can you talk about your race?
“Honestly, I’m going to give a lot of that credit to Sam McAuley (crew chief), because that strategy to pit when we did and then to have enough fuel. It is hit or miss, but every once in a while, you get a green flag run, and you get so spread out, and the tire grip got really low there at the end. There wasn’t – from my perspective – so many people saving. Typically, when you have races like that, you know it is going to go green there at the end because people aren’t wanting to be aggressive with each other, so we just maximized our day, really. That’s what I wanted to do. We got stage points in both stages, a really good finish – a career-best here. Thanks to everyone at Pelonis. I think this is their last race of the year, but we had a bunch of them, Menards and Toyota as always. A lot of momentum. We are going into a great track in Dover for us. We are continuing to get better, and our road course stuff is a work a progress for us, but I’m liking what I’m seeing.”
BRENT CREWS, No. 19 WIX Filters Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
Stellar points day, but I know that last stage didn’t go the way you wanted it to. Can you talk about the day as a whole and that last stage?
“The car was great all day. It was cool to have WIX Filters on our Supra. First time having them aboard, the colors looked great out there. I felt like I had an amazing car all day. We were the one to beat. We were better than the 1 (Connor Zilisch) for sure. Just there at the end – that last stop, it was a little slow, then the motor shut off, and I was trying to get it back running. It was shooting flames and all of that stuff, but after that I had a super, super bad vibration. One of the worst ones I’ve ever had – not sure what that was, but really, really slowed down our pace there at the end. Not sure what it was. I know they will look it over and figure out what the issue was and fix it for next time.”
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