NASCAR driver expected to make full recovery after hospitalization, surgery due to NC car crash

NASCAR driver Taylor Gray is expected to make a full recovery after he was involved in a car crash Wednesday night, his David Gilliland Racing team said.

The 16-year-old ARCA driver underwent surgery Thursday at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. for a fractured L4 vertebra, a part of the spine located in the lower back. Gray was transported to the hospital following the single-car accident in Statesville, N.C.

The team announced Thursday morning that Gray had been hospitalized and was in stable condition and provided an update on his condition shortly before 6 p.m. The team said that Gray will also undergo another surgery in the coming days for a fractured left foot and ankle.

Gray drives in NASCAR’s ARCA Menards Series in the No. 17 for DGR and was slated to make his first Truck Series start at Richmond Raceway on April 17. He will no longer make his debut in the series as planned at the event and the No. 17 has been withdrawn from the race, the team said.

Gray is the brother of full-time Truck Series driver Tanner Gray, who also competes for the team in the No. 15 truck, and comes from a long lineage of NHRA racers, which includes his brother, father Shane Gray and grandfather Johnny Gray.

Taylor made his stock car debut in 2018, and won a CARS Tour Late Model race at Hickory Speedway in 2019. Prior to racing limited late models, he raced Outlaw Karts. In 2020, Taylor made the transition to NASCAR’s lower-level ARCA Series driving for DGR-Crosley, making starts across ARCA’s East and West Series. Last October, Taylor earned his first win in ARCA at Kern County Raceway.

He turned 16 on March 25.