When Taylor Gray tackled a partial Xfinity Series schedule during the 2024 season, he knew what the future held. Ultimately, the prospect transitioned to a full-time promotion with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025.
Gray, 20, has been best friends with Ty Gibbs for as long as he can remember. The duo grew up competing against each other. So, when Gray was announced as the full-time driver of the No. 54 Toyota, the same ride in which Gibbs led to a dominant 2022 championship run, Gibbs was listed as the car owner in a full-circle moment for both of them.
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“Going back and forth between the truck and an Xfinity car last year hurt me [with] the Xfinity car a little bit,” Gray told NASCAR.com, as he nearly missed out on a Championship 4 berth last fall at Martinsville Speedway. “I’ll be very honest, I’m not as good as some other guys that are out here that are able to switch back and forth between cars, whether it’s because I’m younger and still need some time to learn or what.”
Gray followed in his brother–Tanner Gray’s–footsteps. The duo started racing in the Ford camp with Tricon Garage and shifted to the Toyota pipeline when the organization switched manufacturers ahead of the 2023 season. Gray had to sit out the opening three races of his rookie campaign in the Craftsman Truck Series, as he didn’t turn 18 years old until late March.
Maturity has never been an issue for Gray. His veteran crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, saw the wisdom from the time they met. He appreciates the way the rookie driver analyzes data and how he isn’t afraid to be vocal.
Tyler Allen, who won eight races last year in the Xfinity Series, was originally slated to be Gray’s crew chief. However, a personnel shuffle at JGR moved Allen to the Cup Series, and Ratcliff stepped in to fill the role. Currently, he’s only working with Gray for 2025 after earlier announcing his retirement from the pit box late in 2023.
“It worked out and it was so late in the game that Coach called me and said, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?'” Ratcliff remembered. “I said, ‘Under these circumstances, I believe in Taylor and believe that he has what it takes to be successful and win. I like the race team that’s going to surround him. If you need me to come out for a year and do this thing and see if we can make a go of it, then let’s do it.'”
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With one of the Xfinity GOATs of crew chiefs — Ratcliff has won 57 races — atop the pit box, Gray felt a sense of comfort entering his rookie year.
“Before I knew [Ratcliff] was going to do this, I was a little nervous about it,” Gray added. “I had faith and wasn’t stressing it too hard. I was happy for Tyler. I was happy for him and there’s no bad blood there at all.”
After eclipsing the halfway point of his first full season last weekend at EchoPark Speedway, Gray jumped four positions in the regular-season championship standings to eighth, with a 28-point cushion over the elimination line. The No. 54 team had a standout run at Martinsville Speedway, leading a career-high 87 laps, only to be dumped by Sammy Smith on the final lap. He finished second to Cup Series star Kyle Larson at Texas Motor Speedway. And in the series’ return to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Gray raced clean with Daniel Suarez on the final lap to finish as runner-up. That started a streak of three straight top-10 finishes, including a stage win at Atlanta.
Despite a solid start to 2025, Gray would argue that it should be better.
“We’ve had a lot of bad luck,” he stated. “We’ve had speed everywhere we’ve shown up. There have only been a handful of places where we’ve shown up and been legitimate outside the top five car. Most places that we go to this year, we should have finished top five and for sure won a race by now.
“I think it’s been a good year. It seems like we’re starting to get luck back on our side a little bit and have to keep putting together these races and stringing them along.”
Ratcliff is pleased with the No. 54 team’s performance. The group has done what it’s set out to do, minus capturing a checkered flag, which he believes will come sooner rather than later.
“All in all, [Gray is] doing a nice job as far as being a rookie in this series,” Ratcliff noted. “When you look at the statistics side of it, we’ve run up front. We haven’t finished where we feel like we’ve raced every week, but it’s been dumb stuff that takes us out of it. Some of it is our fault and we didn’t execute like we needed to. We sit down each week and talk about those things and what we can do better. When we look at things and say, ‘This is what we need to improve,’ typically, we improve. I like that. It’s the sign of a strong team.”
Being close to victory on multiple occasions has stung, but Gray isn’t concerned that he will not experience the thrill of Victory Lane this season. He expects to win multiple times.
“We’re capable of winning and we’re a winning team,” Gray added. “I know it’s going to come. I’m not sitting here like, ‘that was our only shot to win.’ We’re going to have a lot of wins this year, so I’m not too worried about it.”
Next up is Saturday’s Chicago Street Race (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio). Ratcliff has noticed Gray’s prowess on road courses and wouldn’t be surprised if the No. 54 car is in the mix again this weekend.