XFINITY: Taylor Gray bumps Dean Thompson out of last place after late-race crash
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Taylor Gray picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when his #54 Operation 300 Toyota was involved in a multi-car crash after 118 of 163 laps.
The finish, which came in Gray’s 15th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since September 28, 2024 at Kansas, eight races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 6th for the #54, the 166th for Toyota, and the 405th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 23rd for the #54, the 417th for Toyota, and the 1,406th from a crash.
While still winless in NASCAR’s top three series, Gray pulled impressive numbers in 2024. In his first season starting all the Truck Series races, he made the Playoffs on points and ranked 6th in the final standings for TRICON Garage. He did this on top of a 13-race stint in the XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, which included a sterling 3rd-place finish in his series debut at Richmond, then later a 5th at the tricky Pocono Raceway. This led to a full-time ride in this year’s XFINITY campaign, where his #54 Toyota is owned by current JGR Cup driver Ty Gibbs. Last week at Daytona, Gray gave the car a fine run, taking home 5th in the season opener.
Gray again showed impressive speed at Atlanta, where he ran 10th-fastest in Round 1 at 32.034 seconds (173.007mph), then improved in Round 2 to secure 6th on the grid with a lap of 31.955 seconds (173.494mph).
Since 38 cars attempted to qualify for as many spots, no drivers were sent home on Friday. Securing the final starting spot was Joey Gase, whose #35 Patriot Adventures Chevrolet ran the slowest completed lap of 33.217 seconds (166.902mph), one spot behind teammate Mason Maggio in the #53 Bill Roberts Electrical Ford. Gase incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, keeping the lineup the same.
When the green flag dropped, Gase pulled ahead of Maggio, who were 3.986 and 4.053 seconds behind the leader, respectively. By the end of Lap 1, both had passed Carson Ware, who took over the 38th spot in Mike Harmon Racing’s #74 Save22 Chevrolet. Much like in the Truck Series race earlier in the day, the tail end of the field was starting to separate off into its own pack by Lap 4, led by 35th-place Mason Massey in the #45 Brunt Workwear Chevrolet. Ware was already starting to trail the three cars ahead of him by open track, his car struggling to keep pace.
On Lap 6, Dean Thompson was running just over a second behind the leader when the field stacked up on the backstretch, causing his #26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota to glance off the outside wall. This caused a flat tire, and Thompson slowed to keep his car out of the outside wall. He ended up slowing so much that he was practically stopped when the leaders came off Turn 2. Down the backstretch, both Jeb Burton’s #27 NORMA Precision Ammunition Chevrolet and the #39 Sci Aps Ford of Ryan Sieg broke loose in separate incidents, each narrowly averting a crash. At nearly the same moment, the caution fell for Thompson, averting a dangerous situation. Now off the lead lap and in last place, Thompson made it down pit road for repairs to his rear spoiler and rear decklid. By then, he’d also incurred a one-lap penalty for stopping on the track, which he served on his next stop. This put him two laps down by Lap 10.
Under the same caution, Kyle Sieg had an extended stop for his #28 Tree Mart Ford for what seemed to be a suspension issue based on radio transmissions. The team thought about going to the garage, but decided against it when the field prepared to take the restart. They hoped for another quick caution, but instead changed their minds and had him pull behind the wall on Lap 11. Sieg pulled up behind the team’s hauler, where the crew made repairs. The team correctly predicted these repairs could be completed quickly, and though he took last on Lap 15, he was back on track four laps later, eight down to the leaders in 38th.
Thompson’s day continued to sour. Another flat tire sent him to pit road under green, and he took over last spot again on Lap 23 when he was now nine laps down. The car was also overheating, and the team had to spend even more time cooling the engine. This brought too many crew members over the wall, so when he returned to the track on Lap 26, 11 laps down, he then had to serve a pass-through penalty under green. He completed this by Lap 29, when he was now 13 laps down. That same time by, Kyle Sieg lost the Lucky Dog spot to Ware, who was lapped from 36th place. On Lap 39, the stranded Thompson was caught by the leaders down the backstretch. He pulled into the low lane and fell a 14th lap down. He remained in that spot on Lap 46, when the caution fell to end Stage 1. Thompson apologized to his crew at least twice, after which his team still reminded him there was much racing left to do.
Thompson didn’t lose another lap during the entirety of Stage 2, which concluded with the next caution on Lap 92. He also avoided being collected by C.J. McLaughlin, who two cars ahead of him on Lap 107 appeared to lose a tire and slam the Turn 1 wall in the #92 Main Street Auto Chevrolet. McLaughlin returned to the track two laps down in 36th, bumping Ware up to 35th, and cleared minimum speed on the Lap 115 restart.
During all this, Taylor Gray remained among the leaders for much of the day. He’d yet to lead, but took 4th in Stage 1 before he slipped out of the Top 10 at the end of Stage 2. On Lap 118, he was running in 12th, stuck behind the damaged #48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet of Nick Sanchez in the middle lane. Coming off Turn 2, he was being passed in the high lane by Jeremy Clements in the #51 One Stop / All South Electric Chevrolet when Clements spun, perhaps after contact from a closing Blaine Perkins in the #31 easycare Chevrolet. Trapped by Connor Zilisch, whose #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet was to his left, Gray sideswiped Zilisch before he collided with Clements, which sent Gray spinning to the inside. Gray struck the inside wall with the left-front, but still managed to make it to pit road with both Clements and Zilisch. While the other two continued on the track for a time, Gray went behind the wall, done for the night. He took last from Thompson on Lap 131.
Thompson went on to finish in 35th, still under power at the checkered flag. He nearly caught Zilisch, who after his incident with Gray was struck in the driver’s door by another wrecking car – this time the #41 Audibel Ford of Sam Mayer, who wrecked along with Anthony Alfredo’s #42 Randco Chevrolet coming off Turn 4 on Lap 142. The impact tore open Zilisch’s passenger side door, forcing the team to hastily tape pieces of foam to replace those that had fallen out. These pieces then fell on the track, drawing the following caution that ended Zilisch’s night in 34th. By then, Thompson had passed both Mayer and Alfredo to reach 35th at the checkered flag.
Honeyman and Dye impressive in Atlanta
For the second-straight race, Leland Honeyman, Jr. and the new Cope Family Racing team received attention on the broadcast as he challenged for a top-ten finish in the #70 DWC Chevrolet. This time, Honeyman ran best in the final stage, clawing his way into the lead battle twice before he finished 8th – already a new team-best and the second-best career finish for Honeyman, whose mark of 4th from last spring at Talladega remains his best. It’s also the first-ever top-ten finish for a XFINITY car owned by Derrike Cope, which comes after 136 combined starts dating back to 2008.
One spot ahead in 7th came Daniel Dye, the Daytona last-place finisher, who rebounded nicely to tie his own career-best XFINITY finish set last summer at Indianapolis. Dye’s run in the #10 SMA Healthcare Chevrolet came in just his 14th series start.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #54 in a XFINITY Series race since July 18, 2020, when Kyle Busch’s #54 Twix Toyota had his race win stripped away for failing left-rear ride height in post-race inspection. The number had never before finished last in a XFINITY race at Atlanta.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #54-Taylor Gray / 118 laps / crash
37) #42-Anthony Alfredo / 141 laps / crash
36) #41-Sam Mayer / 141 laps / crash / led 1 lap
35) #26-Dean Thompson / 149 laps / running
34) #88-Connor Zilisch / 151 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
