By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
2018 has been a year of noticeable gains for GMS Racing. The Camping World Truck Series giant struggled to only one top 10 in all of 2017 with Spencer Gallagher and was questioned on their choice to jump to the series after such success in Trucks.
Those questions haven’t been asked in a while. And for good reason: Gallagher and GMS are “leaps and bounds” higher in 2018 than last year.
“We improved ourselves as a team leaps and bounds today,” Gallagher told Kickin’ The Tires. “We were able to get out there and show people that we mean business.”
Gallagher showed serious business in Saturday’s Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 from Bristol Motor Speedway, driving his No. 23 to fifth place. The result was his and the team’s first top-five finish in the series and already their fourth top 10 of the year.
“A little bit of patience and a lot of aggression,” he said of the final laps Saturday. “I didn’t think this would be the place to do it, candidly. Bristol isn’t my best track.”
Gallagher was seen sitting on pit road after exiting his racecar. The heat mixed with the punishing track hit him hard.
“It was a madhouse,” he said. “Caution after caution, restart after restart. It was a physical race. We persevered through it and brought home a good finish. This is a big turning point for us.
“This GMS Racing Chevrolet was really good from the time we unloaded. Throughout the race, we were able to maintain good track position, hats off the team, they’re the ones who make it go fast, I just turn the thing left.”
Additionally, the Las Vegas native has rallied off seven straight top-15 finishes to start the year. The consistency has pushed Gallagher to eighth in driver points as well as the Dash 4 Cash contest for next weekend at Richmond Raceway.
“It’s an honor to wear the red splitter and red blade for this GMS house,” he said. “It’s a great honor.”