Sam Hunt Racing’s Ed Jones came home fifth in Saturday’s wild Xfinity Series race at Portland, leading the Toyota GR Supra contingent. The Emirati-born Brit, making his second career Xfinity Series start, started the day 17th but powered his No. 24 GR Supra through the field and around late-race chaos to a top-five finish.
The other five Toyota GR Supras ran near or inside the top-10 throughout the 75-lap race at the 1.915-mile road course but were victims of hectic late-race restarts that impeded them from stronger results. This included title contender, Chandler Smith, who suffered damage to his No. 81 GR Supra, ultimately finishing 35th and Sheldon Creed, who obtained a penalty for jumping out of line on restart with 10 laps to go but raced his way back up to the 13th finishing position.
The Xfinity Series stays out west next weekend at Sonoma Raceway for another road course duel.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Portland International Raceway
Race 13 of 33 – 147.75 miles, 75 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Shane Van Gisbergen*
2nd, Justin Allgaier*
3rd, Sammy Smith*
4th, AJ Allmendinger*
5th, ED JONES
12th, JOSH BILICKI
13th, SHELDON CREED
27th, RYAN TRUEX
34th, SAGE KARAM
35th, CHANDLER SMITH
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
ED JONES, No. 24 Synergy Modular Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Coming home in the top-five, what was that race like for you?
“We rolled off the truck pretty good. Obviously, practice is so short, but we got a good feel. Our car wasn’t the best for qualifying, a single-lap run, but we felt comfortable that we had a good car in the long run, and it proved its case in the race. Started mid-pack and gradually worked out way up the field every stage to inside the top-10 for the final stage. For the last two restarts, it was all about going full attack. Again, I’m still learning how to aggressive to be. It’s been an experience, it’s great to get a full race’s experience in, and even better, to be in the top-five. Just thank you to the team and Toyota for helping me prepare for the weekend. And Synergy for being in the car. Looking forward to Sonoma in a few days’ time.”
JOSH BILICKI, No. 19 Ditec Marine Products Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 12th
How would you describe your day today?
“Ended up with a solid day for our DiTec/Trim Tex Supra all things considered. We really had a car capable of having a shot at the win but getting spun just set us back too far to make the ground up. Pretty disappointing that adversity got in the way of our full potential but I’m really proud of our team for rallying and getting a 12th place finish out of it.”
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 81 QuickTie Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 35th
Take us through that contact at the end there.
“Had a solid day going until the end there. Really unfortunate to have something like that happen, but I feel really confident in our road course program going into Sonoma next week.”
Toyota Racing PR
