How Long Should Drivers Stay in Lower Series Before Moving Up to Cup?
What’s Happening? The debate about the right time for a driver to jump up to the Cup Series was ignited…
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Thanks to top Truck Series prospect Corey Heim, people are watching TRICON Garage very closely this silly season. However, his teammate, Taylor Gray, is quietly putting together a solid season with the team, leading us to ask, when could we see Gray in the Cup Series?
Gray is not Cup Series ready yet. He still has not won a race in 47 career Truck Series starts and turned 19 years old after the season started. This was the first year he was old enough to be eligible to start every race, as he only started 20 out of 23 last season.
That falls well below the typical threshold of three to four full-time seasons in the lower series before jumping to the Cup Series. We dive more into that in the article below.
What’s Happening? The debate about the right time for a driver to jump up to the Cup Series was ignited…
That’s not to say Gray cannot be a Cup Series driver in the future. He’s still very young, and he’s having a very solid season to this point, with eight top-10s in the first 14 races and an average finish of 12.6. He’s 38 points above the Playoff cutline with two races remaining in the regular season, and a solid run at IRP could solidify his Playoff position.
He’s not at the level of other prospects like Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Nick Sanchez, or Rajah Caruth. However, Gray could easily be a late bloomer, similar to other drivers in the NASCAR ecosystem.
Eckes won only one Truck Series race in his first 68 starts, but he’s won seven races over his last 37 to put himself on Cup Series radars. Carson Hocevar hadn’t won a race in his first 54 starts, but he won four races and made the Truck Series Championship 4 in 2023 to catapult himself into the Cup Series.
What’s Happening? With two open seats for 2025 already filled, the attention turns to two of of the most coveted seats…
Gray has plenty of time to develop, and he is in the perfect place to do it. He drives for TRICON Garage, Toyota’s top team in the Truck Series, and he is making occassional starts for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. He has two top-fivess in his eight Xfinity starts for JGR so far. Yes, his Xfinity Series starts have been up-and-down, but he is in a good situation.
In order for Gray to head to the Cup Series, there needs to be an open seat for him. It’s tough to project too far into the future. He may not get into the Cup Series until closer to 2026 or 2027.
With drivers like Corey Heim, William Sawalich, and Chandler Smith in the Toyota pipeline, Gray could be battling with plenty of names Cup Series Toyota seats. Even if JGR, Legacy Motor Club, or 23XI has seats open up, Gray will have to separate himself from this group. The way Gray is currently racing is not enough to do so.
He may have to switch manufacturers, similar to what Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith did last off-season. Maybe if seats at places like Spire, Kaulig, and Rick Ware Racing open up, Gray could slot into one of those places. However, we will have to see how Silly Season develops in the coming years.
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