Two Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra’s Finish Inside the Top 10 Saturday night
HAMPTON, Ga. (July 11, 2026) – William Sawalich rallied from the middle of the pack to lead Team Toyota with a fourth-place finish in Saturday night’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta.
Sawalich’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones also mounted a strong comeback, overcoming early race damage and surviving a string of late cautions to finish seventh. The result marked Jones’ 12th top-10 finish of the season.
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS)
EchoPark Speedway near Atlanta
Race 21 of 33 – 250 miles, 163 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, Carson Kvapil*
3rd, Parker Retzlaff*
4th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
5th, Anthony Alfredo*
7th, BRANDON JONES
14th, DEAN THOMPSON
24th, BRENT CREWS
33rd, TAYLOR GRAY
34th, HARRISON BURTON
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 SoundGear Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
How were you able rally to bring home a top-five finish?
“We had a good run there at the finish, our SoundGear GR Supra was pretty good there when it cooled off. We weren’t great through stage 1 and 2 and still needed some work on it. Stage 3 once it cooled off the car came to us just some total grip is what we needed. We were a little bit off everywhere, we were able to suck up good but our cornering wasn’t great, that’s where we lost a lot of time in (turns) 3 and 4. I was able to capitalize on everything that happened there at the end, got some damage but it wasn’t bad enough to ruin our night.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 33rd
What happened there to put you out of the race?
“Obviously super disappointing. Felt like we struggled all day long trying to get the balance right. We were super loose all day long. I felt like right before we got involved there, I felt like we got to the point where we were going to be ok and be able to fight for a top 10, I felt like. I can’t thank everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota Racing enough. We are fighters, we fought all day long to get the car better and felt like we were going to be able to fight there at the end, not sure if it was going to be for the win, but for a top 10 and get a ok points day, so unfortunately it’s not our reality. Just got to take this off week and focus forward hard on Indy.”
What’s the level of concern in the points standings with three to go in the regular season?
“I’m the biggest Sheldon Creed fan on the planet right now, I hope he goes and wins another one here. It’s tough, I know at the end of the day we have to go and execute and win races, that comes with a lot of points. We have some good tracks coming up for us. We just got to focus hard on upcoming races here and put this one behind us.”
About Toyota
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