Todd Gilliland comes up short in standout day at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. — Todd Gilliland led the most laps of any driver in the field Sunday but only had a 26th-place finish to show for it.
Gilliland led six times for 58 in the first 192 laps. Going into the race, he had led just 27 laps in 73 NASCAR Cup Series starts — including 16 in the season-opening Daytona 500.
However, the sun began to set in the sky and on Gilliland’s chances. His car looked good in the daylight but began to fade as the track cooled down and favored cars that handled looser.
Gilliland still hung around the top-10 and was in contention.
Then, with less than 20 laps to go, Gilliland had to pit under green with a tire issue. That put him 26th, four laps down at the end.
“Our team is cranking out very fast racecars and that is really exciting. But, next week is going to be very different race. The quality of equipment we’ve been bringing to the racetrack has been awesome to see,” he said.
Front Row Motorsports signed a new deal with Ford before the start of the season. The deal means they now get Tier One support from the manufacturer, the highest level of support. That includes for engineering, aerodynamics, race setup, strategy, pit crew development and other projects.
Gilliland won two ARCA Menards Series West championships in a row in 2016 and 2017. In the latter year, he also finished runner-up in the East championship.
He moved up to Truck competition with Kyle Busch Motorsports before that tenure ended poorly.
Then, he joined Front Row Motorsports and went straight from Trucks to Cup. Last year, FRM took Gilliland out of his full-time car for six races, sending his future into limbo.
Having picked up the pace and earned a third full-time year, running well means a lot to Gilliland.
“A lot of times we don’t look like we belong but we were racing guys like Truex, Hamlin, all the best of the best. That’s all you can do is give your all when you’re up there. I made a couple of bad moves at the end, which I’m disappointed now. But racing around those guys is what we need,” Gilliland said. “You never really know when your next chance to win is going to be. For me, I’m super disappointed but there’s a lot of positives to take.”
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com