Furious Taylor Gray confronts Christian Eckes after Truck Series race at Martinsville 

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Taylor Gray was in a must-win situation to punch his ticket for the Championship 4 round at the Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 200 race held at Martinsville Speedway on November 1, 2024. But he was robbed of his chance, and Christian Eckes won the race in the final moments, making Gray furious, and exchanged words with Eckes on victory lane.

The #17 Toyota driver was in sixth place before starting the race. He led only a lap at the race but was fighting for the lead from Eckes during lap 196. Gray edged out Eckes from the outside on turn one and cleared him on the backstretch taking the lead.

As the trucks entered turn three, Eckes bumped into Taylor Gray's truck, sliding him toward the wall and dropping him to P5. Gray finished fourth, and Eckes won the race, making the #17 Toyota driver furious. He walked to the victory lane and confronted the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver for

Taylor Gray said:

"Don't fu****ing sh*t something in the fuckin' pits. You're gonna have to play! I barely got you off of the bottom with tires. Do you know how many chances that I had shitting you into the fuckin' pit?"

Christian Evecks replied, "You should."

Gray mentioned he would remember the #19 Chevy truck driver's words for the Championship 4 race scheduled on November 8, 2024, at Phoneix Raceway.

---

Taylor Gray revealed his future in the Xfinity Series under Joe Gibbs racing

Taylor Gray revealed that Ty Gibbs and Joe Gibbs Racing are bringing back the #54 out-of-retirement ahead of the 2025 season. He was expected to drive the #19 car for JGR.

The #19 Toyota truck driver debuted in the Xfinity Series this year as a part-time driver for JGR. He performed astonishingly well, and the team extended the contract and signed a full-time contract with Gray for the 2025 season earlier this month.

Taylor Gray was featured on the Victory Lane podcast, highlighting that after his Talladega race, he talked with Ty Gibbs about his 2025 drive and the number he was using for it. Gibbs continued and mentioned that Gray would run his #54, so the team had to take it out of retirement. He said:

"Actually, it's a funny story. It was Talladega after the Xfinity race. I went over to his place before the planes left, you know, JGR has cars in the playoffs, so they have to roll through tech and takes a while and everything. So I walked over there and I was talking to him."

"We were kind of talking about next year a little bit. And he was asking me about number stuff and what number I was supposed to be. And originally, I was supposed to be the 19. Like that was what I was going to do with the 19. And he looks at me and goes, no, he said, you're going to run the 54. And so they, they drug the 54 kind of out of retirement. I like to say. And yeah, it's pretty cool."

Taylor Gray finished his debut race in third place at the Richmond Raceway and kept a constant flow for a few races. He took a short break from the Xfinity Series and competed at the Pocono, finishing in fifth place. The JGR team was convinced by Gray's performance and signed a contract with him.