TOYOTA DEVELOPMENT DRIVER BRENT CREWS BRINGS HOME RUNNER-UP FINISH AT NASHVILLE
All Four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra’s Finish Inside Top-10
LEBANON, Tenn. (May 30 2026) – In just his 12th career start in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Brent Crews again came close to earning his first series victory, battling veteran Justin Allgaier for the win over the final 20 laps Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway before finishing in the runner-up spot.
After starting 33rd, Crews charged through the field to lead 45 laps and record his fifth top-five finish of the season. It was also a strong night for Joe Gibbs Racing. The organization placed three cars in the top five and all four entries in the top 10, with William Sawalich finishing third, Brandon Jones fifth and Taylor Gray eighth.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS)
Nashville Superspeedway
Race 16 of 33 – 250.04 miles, 188 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, BRENT CREWS
3rd, WILLIAM SAWALICH
3rd, Sam Mayer*
5th, BRANDON JONES
9th, TAYLOR GRAY
14th, DEAN THOMPSON
27th, HARRISON BURTON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
BRENT CREWS, No. 19 YoungLife Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What did you learn racing Justin there at the end
“The positives were I thought we were going to win this race. Happy for our guys, everyone at Younglife. We had 60 to 80 people here and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Got to start 33rd and worked our way up to the lead and lead a lot of laps and got to race one of the best guys of all time in our series for the win there in the last few laps, couldn’t ask much more other than to beat him. Just fought really loose there at the end after we put on that set of tires, not sure what that was, but that was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race that I did not win, so that’s a positive from the night.”
When you are driving so hard racing for your first win with a guy like Justin, how much confidence do you have running a guy like him for the win?
“It’s definitely a lot different and there’s a lot of guys you are confident in racing and some others that you are not as confident in. Justin there at the end, I knew he was going to put it on my door and I could drive it in there deep and if I got a little free and wash up there with him we would be ok. Just gives me a lot more confidence being able to drive it in there really hard and race him hard and I could give him the bumper on entry and not worry about him spinning out and could race him really hard and I know he had fun, I know I did.”
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 Starkey Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
What more did you need there at the end?
“I think we just needed one last restart to go better to get better track position for that last run at the end of stage 3. We executed green flag pit stops really well and our GR Supra was really fast all night and the guys made good adjustments. Can’t thank the guys enough and we got some points and back in ninth.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 20 Menards/Pennington Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
What helped you bring home another top-10 finish?
“I’m really happy about that top-five finish. It’s not joke to start at the back of the field, we had to change an alternator after practice and I recognized it and had to change it because I didn’t want to get in the final stage and be leading the thing and have a dead battery and started dead last in the race. This is a really challenging racetrack to pass at, it can be done and we came up through the field and had a really good racecar to do it. I’ve been working with Sam McAulay really closely to try to get these GR Supras where they need to be in the top-five and I think this weekend we really did a good job of hitting on our setup. It’s nice to have really good speed like we did there at the end, it was circumstantial track position wise why we didn’t finish better and I think having a fifth-place finish and overcome all the adversity that we had and pass all the people that we did is pretty big.”
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