After a difficult afternoon and evening, it took nearly everything that Tanner Gray could possibly muster to bring his No. 15 Operation 300 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro home in 12th-place at the end of Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Richmond.
It ended up being a decent result, and a pretty stellar rebound for the 25-year-old driver, who spent the entire first half of the race just attempting to hold onto the lead lap, and when that didn’t work, fighting hard with those around him for the free pass.
That rebound would ultimately end up overshadowed by the more somber event of the evening.
Entering Saturday’s NASCAR Truck Series regular-season finale at Richmond, the eldest of the Gray brothers was sitting on the bubble, just five points above the cutline, holding serve over McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver Daniel Dye.
The driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet Silverado managed to record an eighth-place finish, only four spots ahead of Gray. The difference maker was stage points, though, as Dye finished third and sixth in the two stages, collecting 13 points, putting him well ahead of the TRICON Garage driver.
“We just weren’t good enough. All day, we just didn’t have the speed — didn’t have the balance,” Gray said post-race. “I didn’t do a good enough job. Really frustrated. I don’t know. You come into a race where you’re on the cut like this — you have to be better, and we weren’t tonight.”
In the end, it was a matter of only 12 points between Gray earning his first NASCAR Truck Series Playoff berth or being left to fend off a pack of hungry drivers for an 11th-place points finish.
“Congrats to Daniel [Dye]. They were better, and they were better down the stretch when it mattered. We just made too many mistakes overall throughout the season — too sloppy, so we have to clean it up. I have got to clean things up on my end, and we just need to be better.”
There was a point during the final stage of Saturday’s event where Gray looked to have a chance at clinching the final spot, as Jerame Donley called the No. 15 down pit road to put his final set of sticker tires on. In the green-flag run that followed, Gray was advancing forwards, while Dye was sliding back, bringing things even closer together.
A caution flag displayed with 26 laps to go, for a spin by Kaden Honeycutt, would ultimately force the leaders to come to pit road for a set of sticker tires, while Gray was forced to put scuffs on his Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.
For just a millisecond on the subsequent restart, Gray was exactly even with the No. 43 in the points battle, after Dye was trapped in his pit box, dropping him outside the top-20. But, with a faster truck and newer tires, that gap was erased quickly.
Then, as a hail mary, Gray was brought down pit road during the ninth and final caution flag of the evening, putting on better scuff tires and being set loose into the pack to try and make up as many positions as possible.
While it wasn’t enough to make the Playoffs, Gray did manage to keep a couple of impressive streaks alive. After 16 events, Gray and Stewart Friesen are the only two drivers who haven’t failed to finish a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 2024.
More impressive, though, is that Gray hasn’t finished worse than 20th, and after late-race issues for Nick Sanchez, is the only driver in that boat. Should the Artesia, New Mexico native finish the year in his current form, he will become just the seventh NASCAR Truck Series driver to run an entire season without finishing outside the top-20.
Sure, everybody wants to qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs, but Gray and everybody on the TRICON No. 15 team should at least take solace in the results they’ve laid down this season, which for the former NHRA Pro Stock Champion have been among the best of his five-year career.
Without the high pressure of the post-season applied, Gray can turn his focus to one thing over these final seven races: capturing his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory.
