Taylor Gray enters Las Vegas eighth in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase with 2,131 points, putting the Joe Gibbs Racing rookie 104 points behind Sheldon Creed. Gray remains within 12 points of both Corey Day and Sammy Smith but needs to begin cutting into the larger championship deficit.
Gray nearly produced a much bigger result at Bristol. He challenged for the lead during the closing stages and briefly benefited from the contact between Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier before eventually fading to sixth in overtime. The result nevertheless moved him ahead of Austin Hill, Parker Retzlaff and Brandon Jones in the standings.
His spring Las Vegas race showed both speed and risk. Gray led 21 laps but crashed after 148 circuits and finished 37th.
Returning to the track with a clean finish could produce a dramatically different points result. Gray is only 12 points outside sixth despite being more than 100 behind Creed.
This article originally appeared on Motorsports Wire: Taylor Gray looking for strong run at Las Vegas in Chase
