October 16, 2017 (Statesville, N.C.) — Gray Gaulding earns Sunoco Rookie of the Race, American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award, and a career best finish of ninth in Sunday’s Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Gaulding surpassed his previous best finish of 20th which came at Talladega Superspeedway in May of this year.
When the green flag waived Gaulding rolled the No.83 Dustless Blasting Toyota off 39th, by lap three he cracked inside the top-25. Gaulding spent the majority of the day racing inside the top-20 earning respect from competitors and learning where to position himself as the laps clicked away. In the closing laps Gaulding was able to work with those friends he made throughout the day and race his way to a career best ninth place finish.
From the Driver’s Seat with Gray Gaulding: “This is Talladega and this is why the stands are still packed. It got wild and I was on my toes but I never went into defense, I was pushing forward from the drop of the green flag. I can not believe it, we’re leaving here with a top-10 in the Cup series! I grew up watching these races, dreaming of these races, and our team was able to race with the best and bring home an awesome finish for our partners, our team, and our fans! I got to meet a special girl earlier this week named Crystal, she is at a hospital in Birmingham where she recently had a double lung and heart transplant and she was racing with me this weekend. It was awesome to have my dad and my grandfather here this weekend, they’ve been my number one supporters since the first day I strapped into a race car. Thank you to Ron Devine for giving me the opportunity to race this weekend. This would not be possible without the great partners that have helped me get here P.F. Chang’s, Conduit Global, Toyota, SunFrog, Dustless Blasting, Addiction Campuses, LaColombe, Impact Racing, The Country Network, and Joe from Piranha for keeping my helmets and firesuits clean and comfortable. Thank you to all my competitors and media that stopped by to congratulated me after the race. If I left anyone else out I am sorry and you’re not forgotten, I love you, and thank you for your support!”
Keeping up with Gray… For the latest news, notes, and appearance information follow @GrayGaulding on Twitter and Instagram or facebook.com/GrayGauldingRacing
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GGR Enterprises is an athlete management and corporate consulting agency in the motorsports industry headquartered fifteen minutes north of “Race City, USA” in Statesville, N.C. GGRE has been built on deep personal relationships with influential leaders and decision makers in motorsports with a range of expertise in client representation, creative services, hospitality, and event management. Visit us at GrayGaulding.com.
BK Racing is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Racing team headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 2012 after acquiring the assets of Red Bull Racing, BK Racing’s staff of 60+ employees works to field the No. 23 and the No. 83 Toyota Camrys. 2017 marks BK Racing’s 6th consecutive full-time season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Visit us at BKRacingTeam.com.