NASCAR News: Taylor Gray wins Kansas Lottery 300 and again Toyota runs roughshod over NASCAR

Toyota driver Taylor Gray executed a perfect late-race strategy in the Kansas Lottery 300, pitting first among the leaders during the final 95-lap green-flag run and holding off a charging Sheldon Creed to score his second career NASCAR O’Reilly Parts Series win.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Crew chief Jason Ratcliff—who previously won at Kansas Speedway with David Green in 2003—brought the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in on Lap 143 of 200. Creed and Brandon Jones, who were running first and second at the time, pitted four laps later and rejoined the track roughly three seconds behind Gray.

Jones, who had dominated the first two stages, was forced to serve a pass-through penalty for a tire violation and lost his shot at victory. Creed, with Justin Allgaier in tow, mounted a determined late charge but fell short by 0.718 seconds.

“How about Jason Ratcliff?” Gray said after climbing from his car. “That pit call was awesome. We had a car capable of winning. I thought the 20 (Jones) was a little better than us before the green-flag cycle started, but we just had to stay locked in, and we had to be a little bit freer.

“Jason made a really good adjustment on the car and a really good pit call and got us in clean air. It’s been a long start to the year, man—not that we’re not bringing speed to the racetrack. It’s just that things haven’t really gone our way. So it’s nice to finally be able to close one out.”

The win moved Gray up three spots to ninth in the series standings.

Creed had plenty to celebrate as well. As the highest-finishing eligible driver, he earned his first $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. It was his fifth attempt at the prize.

“It was a great day for us after starting in the back,” said Creed, whose No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet failed pre-race inspection and dropped to the rear of the field. “I kind of knew right away my car was really fast, and I was able to drive to the front, and I just had a lot of fun today…

“It’s just really cool to be able to bring a hundred grand back to the Haas Factory Team. I definitely wanted to win and add to it, but the 54 (Gray) did a really good job short-pitting us. He ran a really good last 40 laps there and got through traffic quick and made it where I never really got close enough.”

Allgaier finished third, followed by defending series champion Jesse Love and rookie Brent Crews. William Byron (i), Cole Custer (i), Jones, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg rounded out the top 10 in a race that saw 11 lead changes among eight drivers.

Allgaier’s third-place run added a point to his championship lead over Creed, now standing at 131 points.

Early Chaos and Key Incidents

The race turned chaotic almost immediately. On just the second lap, contact from Byron turned Carson Kvapil’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet sideways on the backstretch. Parker Retzlaff piled in, launching Kvapil’s car into a series of barrel rolls. Safety crews righted the car with tethers and a tow truck; Kvapil walked away and was released from the infield care center.

“Maybe on dirt, I’ve flipped a few of them, but definitely never asphalt racing or a big stock car race,” Kvapil said. “It was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be, once I realized I was going over, but it just sucks.”

On Lap 38, Jesse Love crowded teammate Austin Hill in Turn 4, sending Hill spinning. William Sawalich had nowhere to go and collected Hill hard. Hill, furious on the radio (“I’ll remember this”), finished 34th. Corey Day’s streak of eight consecutive top-10 finishes ended with a 12th-place result after an earlier accident and flat tire.

Toyota’s 2026 Domination of NASCAR

As of mid-April 2026 (after 8 Cup races, ~10 Xfinity races, and 6 Truck races), Toyota has shown clear dominance in the premier NASCAR Cup Series — winning 75% of all races (6 of 8) and building a commanding lead in manufacturer points. The brand is also leading the Truck Series while running second in Xfinity.

Here’s a clear breakdown:

Key Highlights of Toyota’s 2026 Domination

– Cup Series: Toyota has won 6 of the first 8 races — the strongest start by any manufacturer in years. Standout performers include Tyler Reddick (4 wins), Ty Gibbs (1 win at Bristol), and additional victories from the Toyota camp. Toyota also holds 4 poles.
– Truck Series: Toyota leads both in wins (3) and manufacturer points.
– Xfinity Series: More competitive, with Chevrolet holding the edge, but Toyota still has two victories (including Taylor Gray’s Kansas Lottery 300 win on April 18).

Toyota’s early-season performance across the national series has been the story of 2026 so far, especially in the Cup Series where they’ve separated themselves dramatically from Chevrolet and Ford. Data current through Bristol (Cup) and Kansas (Xfinity) races.

Kansas Lottery 300 Race Results

Race Stats
• Average Speed: 116.946 mph
• Time of Race: 2 hours, 33 minutes, 55 seconds
• Margin of Victory: 0.718 seconds
• Cautions: 7 for 37 laps
• Lead Changes: 11 among 8 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Brandon Jones (3x, 67 laps), Sheldon Creed (1x, 48 laps), Taylor Gray (1x, 48 laps), Corey Day (2x, 26 laps), Anthony Alfredo (1x, 6 laps), Ryan Sieg (1x, 3 laps), Jesse Love (1x, 1 lap), William Byron (i) (1x, 1 lap).

Stage 1 Top 10 (car numbers): 20, 17, 7, 2, 96, 54, 00, 19, 27, 88
Stage 2 Top 10 (car numbers): 20, 00, 7, 2, 17, 8, 54, 24, 41, 26

Gray, Creed, Allgaier and Love now head to the next Dash 4 Cash event — the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 25.