When Daniel Dye and Tanner Gray went into Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond, they knew their 2024 season was on the line.
After 250 laps at Richmond Raceway, both drivers knew their fate.
Dye’s conservative, easy-going run to eighth place was enough to close the five-point gap to Gray. And while Gray’s 12th-place performance was commendable, Dye’s litany of stage points ultimately spelled the death knell for Gray’s season.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Gray told Fox Sports’ Amanda Busick. “All day long we just didn’t have the speed, didn’t have the balance and I didn’t work well enough. Really frustrating. When you go into a race like this you have to be better and we weren’t tonight. Congratulations to Daniel, they were better down the home stretch when it mattered. We were too sloppy.”
Gray’s 12th-place finish marks his seventh consecutive finish outside the top 10, while Dye’s top 10 finish is his first since Nashville on June 28. Neither driver was in top form heading into the season finale, but in the end, Dye’s decisive performance was enough to secure a postseason berth.
Reigning Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes secured a postseason berth with a seventh-place finish, while Taylor Gray’s third-place finish secured one of the Gray brothers a berth in the 2024 postseason.
The Truck Series playoffs begin on Sunday, August 25th at the Milwaukee Mile.
