"Huge." That was the word Taylor Gray used to describe his third-place finish in his Xfinity Series debut at Richmond Raceway. Four months later, he still sees the significance of this performance for Joe Gibbs Racing and, more importantly, for himself.
"The team needed that. They had a couple rough weeks," Gray told AltDriver ahead of the Olympic break. "And just overall, I needed that.
"We put a day together, I overcame some adversity there, mentally for myself, and was able to put that aside and still focus on the end result."
The mental aspect of racing is something that has become immensely important to Gray, who races full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series for Tricon Garage. Putting bad races behind him was something he struggled with as a rookie in 2023, and it was something he was vocal about changing during a preseason sitdown with media members.
Gray has made progress in this area, but there is more work to do.
"It definitely can be tough (to move on), especially when you are an overthinker and you are an over-analyzer," Gray said. "...And I'm definitely big on -- I have to go through, I have to see the mistakes I made and understand why I made those decisions and learn from them."
The Truck schedule plays a role in how quickly he can move forward after a race doesn't go as planned. With only 23 races in a season, there are often multiple weeks between starts for the driver of the No. 17 Toyota Tundra. This creates ample time to look back at the race and think about what could have been.
Fortunately for Gray, he has been able to supplement his schedule and keep busy. He has made eight Xfinity Series starts for Joe Gibbs Racing while sharing the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra with other drivers.
He has been able to compete against different drivers than those he is accustomed to, such as Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott, and AJ Allmendinger. He has been able to focus on the races ahead of him instead of those that are final in the stat sheet.
Running part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing has been an adventure for Gray, who continues to seek his first national NASCAR series win. He has posted an average finish of 13.9 in eight starts along with two top-five finishes despite having no previous experience in the Xfinity cars.
Gray only has one finish worse than 18th.
Taking on these additional races has forced Gray to fit more prep work into his weekly schedule while going between two different shops in two different parts of North Carolina. He has had to dedicate specific days to specific series. Trucks on Monday, Xfinity on Tuesday, Trucks on Wednesday, and Xfinity on Thursday.
This enhanced schedule can be a challenge, but it is one he has continued to embrace.
"I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's so much fun being able to go between the two cars and learn as much as possible, and just kind of be a sponge and soak everything up."
Of course, Gray isn't letting these Xfinity starts and the opportunity to work with Joe Gibbs Racing take away from his priority. His main job is contending for a Truck championship with Tricon Garage.
The team with five full-time trucks already has Corey Heim locked into the playoffs by virtue of five wins. Gray and his brother Tanner are both above the cutline heading into the regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway.
Their teammate Dean Thompson is below the cutline and in a position to win his way into the playoffs. The fifth truck is not in the driver's championship due to its rotating lineup of guests.
Gray is 48 points above the playoff cutline heading to Richmond on Aug. 10. He has two drivers between him and the cutline. All he needs to do to make the playoffs for the first time in his career is deliver a solid race at a track where he has two starts and an average finish of 10.0.
After that, it will be time to chase a championship and show how he rebounded after back-to-back finishes outside the top 30.
"We had a rough few weeks there," Gray said. "So right now we're working on just getting back on track and trying to get hot here for the playoffs."