No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra News and Notes:
- TRUEX AT TEXAS: Ryan Truex makes his second consecutive start in the No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra this weekend in the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway. In three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, Truex has 10 laps led and an average finish of 22.0, highlighted by a best finish of 11th in 2012. In last year’s event, Truex ran well all day as he led nine laps and scored stage points in the first two stages. Truex was caught up in a late-race wreck that relegated his day to a 17th place finish, but left the race having shown his ability at compete at superspeedways
- TEXAS RECAP: Truex left Texas as the highest finishing Joe Gibbs Racing entry with a seventh-place finish after an up-and-down day. After starting seventh, Truex finished stage one in sixth. Truex’s day went smoothly until on lap 85, he made contact with the wall and consequently finished 25th in the second stage. Despite the adversity, Truex quietly worked his way through the field and earned his second top-10 finish of the year.
- UNSUNG HERO: While drivers, crew chiefs, and even car numbers have changed, one constant in the Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series program over the past four seasons is car chief Brian Gainey. Since the start of the 2021 season, Gainey’s teams have won a whopping 27 races in 106 starts. In 2021, Gainey served as the No. 54 team’s car chief for an 11-win season with multiple drivers including Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, and John Hunter Nemechek. The next season, Gainey was once again the No. 54 team’s car chief for Gibbs’ seven-win Xfinity Series championship season. Last year, Gainey worked as the car chief for Nemechek’s seven-win season. This year, he is back with the No. 20 team that has earned a pair of wins with Nemechek and last week with Aric Almirola.
- ON THE PITBOX:Rookie crew chief Tyler Allen is off to a strong start to his crew chief career as he has already scored two wins in two starts. Allen has been at JGR since 2015, most recently as the lead engineer on Christopher Bell’s No. 20, led by Adam Stevens, a position he has held since 2021. He also worked under Stevens as the lead engineer on the No. 18 from 2019-2020. In 2017, Allen made his move to the Cup Series on the No. 18 as a race engineer, a position he held for two years. His first position at JGR came in 2015 as he was hired to be the race engineer on the No. 54 NASCAR Xfinity Series car with Kyle Busch. Allen won the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship and 25 races across his seven years in JGR’s Cup shop, as well as 19 Xfinity races during his time in the series. Allen and Truex will work together for the first time this weekend in Texas.
- JGR AT TALLADEGA: Joe Gibbs Racing has five Xfinity Series victories, 18 top-fives, 28 top-10s, 389 laps led, and five poles in 72 combined starts at Talladega Superspeedway. Mike McLaughlin, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, and Elliott Sadler have each taken Joe Gibbs Racing to victory lane once at NASCAR’s largest oval, with the most recent win coming with Sadler in 2014.
- FOLLOW ALONG:Follow along for updates and a behind-the-scenes look at Truex’s 2024 season.
Twitter:@Ryan_TruexI Facebook:Ryan TruexI Instagram:@ryan_truex
- RACE INFO: Coverage of this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for Saturday, April 20th at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Ryan Truex, Driver of the No. 20 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Supra:
“Talladega can be pretty unpredictable; how do you plan to give your team a shot at the win this weekend?”
“Talladega is unique since some things are simply out of your control. That said, it’s going to be essential to stay out of trouble if we’re going to have a chance to win. Whether that’s by racing at the front or using good judgement in risky scenarios, making sure we keep the car clean and fast is a priority all the way until the last few laps. Once we get to crunch time, that’s when you can get assertive and go after the checkered flag.”
JGR PR
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