By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
A late-race surge earned Todd Gilliland the first top-five finish for Front Row Motorsports in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.
The driver of the No. 38 Mannington Commercial Ford F-150 broke into the top-five after the final round of green flag pit stops. Gilliland was chasing down NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott. Then Elliott’s No. 24 Hooters Chevrolet Silverado spun off turn two with three laps to go.
The overtime restart for the Vet Tix / Camping World 200 saw several trucks, including Gilliland’s make contact. He had restarted second before spinning his tires. For the second week in a row, the Sherrills Ford, N.C. native had a tire rub late in the race. At Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gilliland nursed the truck back around to score a fourth-place finish.
“I’m proud of the race we put together today,” explained Gilliland. “We started 12th and finished fourth. We started on the front row for the final restart, which is all you could ask for, but I messed up and didn’t get the restart I needed.
:If you keep putting yourself in those positions eventually everything will go your way. I’ve just got to learn from it and I feel like our Mannington Ford F-150 was good and we were a contender. I’m really proud of the race we put together and we just need to keep clicking them off like that.”
Gilliland started the race just outside the top-10. Pit strategy kept the Front Row driver out of position for stage points in the first stage. By the end of the second stage, he had climbed through the field to take fifth in the stage.
The fourth-place finish is the 13th top-five in Gilliland’s career and first of the 2020 Truck Series season. It is also the first for Front Row in the Truck Series and just the organization’s 10th across NASCAR’s three national series.
Gilliland was proud to be able to earn FRM their first Truck Series top-five:
“I’m proud to get Front Row their first top-five in the Truck Series! They’ve surrounded me with a great team and I can’t wait to keep running upfront!”
The top-five moved Gilliland from 13th to 10th in the points standings. He now holds the final playoff berth with a seven-point advantage over Tyler Ankrum and is 57 points behind leader Austin Hill.
“I think the top-five run really just gave my team a good feeling about the speed we have had the last couple races, to just have a solid race really does build momentum,” admitted Gilliland.
The next race for the Truck Series is the Homestead 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway June 13.