SAWALICH SCORES THIRD STRAIGHT TOP-FIVE FINISH AT IOWA
Sam Hunt Racing puts both Supras in the top-10 for the first time this season
NEWTON, Iowa (August 8, 2026) – William Sawalich battled back through the field after getting spun and led Toyota with a third-place finish at Iowa Speedway on Saturday evening. Taylor Gray (seventh) put a second Joe Gibbs Racing Supra in the top-10.
Sawalich, Gray and Brent Crews go into the final race of the regular season – Daytona International Speedway – separated by one point for the final two Chase positions.
Sam Hunt Racing had the best day of 2026 as both Dean Thompson (eighth) and Harrison Burton (ninth) put their Supras in the top-10. It is the fourth time in team history that they have put two Supras in the top-10 finishers (2023 Darlington-1, 2024 Road America, 2025 Bristol-1).
TOYOTA RACING Post-Race Recap
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS)
Iowa Speedway
Race 23 of 33 – 218.75 miles, 250 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Carson Kvapil*
2nd, Rajah Caruth*
3rd, WILLIAM SAWALICH
4th, Ross Chastain*
5th, Sheldon Creed*
7th, TAYLOR GRAY
8th, DEAN THOMPSON
9th, HARRISON BURTON
14th, BRANDON JONES
16th, BRENT CREWS
32nd, TYLER TOMASSI
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 18 SoundGear Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What is the emotion with the chance that you have to make the Chase going into Daytona?
“We knew coming in that we still had a chance even if the day didn’t go our way. We were top-10 in stage one and stage two, so we got a little bit of points there, and then finished it off in third. Just picked good lanes on restarts. We put ourselves in the position there and did what we had to do there at the end with our SoundGear Supra because every point matters.”
TAYLOR GRAY, No. 54 Operation 300 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
Solid top-10 run. How was the race today?
“We struggled really all day from practice, and qualifying and the race. We struggled with balance really, but proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, TOYOTA RACING – everyone worked really hard all day and fought really hard to come out and have a decent finish. Obviously not what we wanted stage wise, getting no stage points, and going into Daytona kind of backed into a corner, but it could have been a lot worse. We will have to keep our heads down, keep rolling and keep working.”
DEAN THOMPSON, No. 26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
Double top-10 for Sam Hunt Racing, and another solid run for you, Dean.
“Really happy with the result for our Thompson Pipe Group Toyota team. We struggled here last year, but we worked hard in the offseason and these past few weeks, just trying to build a better race car to bring here. We just missed it last year. Everyone knows that Sam Hunt (Racing) is good here because of how Corey (Heim) performed that one year. This is where we should race at this race track, and I’m just happy that we ended up here.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 24 AIRBOX Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Progressively moving the right way, and another solid top-10 finish.
“Yeah, I thought our race team brought Dean (Thompson) and I both very similar cars and it seemed like run to run, Dean would be better or I would be better – especially stage two, I thought I hit our best run, and kind of struggled from there. I thought our stage three we did a good job of making do of what we had and not giving up. That is the main thing in these races, as you saw. It is such a crazy finish to these things, a lot of times, you just have to keep yourself in it. Proud of our whole AIRBOX Toyota team. Proud of Dean. I thought we worked together well the last few weeks, and it is starting to show.”
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