| Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 |
| Start: 25thFinish: 7thStage One: 14thStage Two: 9thStage Three: 7th After struggling with the handling of the Speedco F-150 in practice and qualifying, Gilliland started the Strat 200 from the 25th position. He quickly started making up ground when the green flag flew, moving up 11 spots in one lap. He maintained the 14th position for the duration of Stage One. When the green-white-checkered flag was displayed after 30 laps of racing, Gilliland reported that his F-150 was handling loose, and it progressively got worse as the run went on. The No. 38 team called him in under the caution where they made major adjustments as well as took four tires and fuel. Gilliland’s pit crew was impressive all night. They earned eight spots on pit road during the first pit stop of the night.When Stage Two went green, Gilliland’s Speedco F-150 seemed to be handling better. He was running inside the top-five by lap 50 of the Strat 200. As the long green-flag run went on, the handling started to go away, and Gilliland was fighting a loose truck for the last 10 laps of Stage Two. He ended the stage in the ninth-position, gaining two stage points. When the stage-ending caution came out, Gilliland pitted for fuel four tires, and another round of adjustments to set him up for the final run. Gilliland’s F-150 looked the best that it had all night at the beginning of Stage Three. Starting from the third position, he chased down the second-place truck by lap 70. As the long green-flag run went on, Gilliland again started fighting the handling losing several positions. With 25 laps remaining in the Strat 200, he was sitting in 10th place. With a strong run in the closing laps, the No. 38 Speedco F-150 was able to gain three more spots and come away with a seventh-place finish. The Front Row Motorsports team collected their first top-10 finish in NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series competition when Gilliland took the checkered from in the seventh position. After two races this season, Gilliland moved up to ninth in Driver Point Standings. Gilliland on Las Vegas: “My Speedco team fought through a lot of adversity today. We were 27th in practice, so we changed all four springs and all four shocks before the race and still went out and qualified 25th. Obviously, we aren’t happy with those results. A lot of people would have gotten down, but we stuck together great as a team and fought through it. My pit crew really saved us tonight — I think they gained like 20 spots overall tonight. We win and lose as a team, and overall I’m really happy with the outcome. I never thought that we’d walk away with a seventh-place finish the way that we unloaded this morning.” |
Front Row Motorsports PR
