TALLADEGA, Ala.: Two weeks ago, Todd Gilliland called his shot for Talladega Superspeedway.
While some might write off his prediction as a case of youthful exuberance, the third-generation racer’s conviction was strong.
Still, with an average finish of 9.6 in his last Cup three starts at the 2.66-mile track, Gilliland has been in the hunt during the closing laps on NASCAR’s longest oval. Could the driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford find Victory Lane on Sunday?
“We’re going to win Talladega,” Gilliland said at Martinsville Speedway. “That’s what I’ve been telling my team. And you’ve got to start believing it, right?”
If qualifying is any indication of the 23-year-old’s potential for the Geico 500, Gilliland is on the right track. Although a driver’s starting position at drafting tracks isn’t nearly as important as at most other venues, posting the third fastest lap in the final round of Cup time trials was not only his best result of 2024 but a career-best qualifying effort.
“It’s great,” said Gilliland, who posted a lap of 181.401 mph, 0.621 seconds behind his teammate—pole winner Michael McDowell. “We’re overall a little selfish and always want a little bit more, but it was a really good day for us.
“Front Row has been bringing really fast cars to the racetrack in general, but on these superspeedway racetracks, we’ve been ultra-competitive, so I still think this is our weekend to go out and get a win. I feel more confident than ever. My car has been driving really good in the race as well, so I think this is our week. We’re off to a good start and we can definitely win from there.”
Like his father, David Gilliland has a high comfort level with superspeedways. Two of the elder Gilliland’s career top fives came at Talladega—including a career-high second in 2013 with Todd’s current team owner Bob Jenkins in the No. 38 Ford. Five years after David retired from full-time competition, Todd started with the organization, first in the Craftsman Truck Series and for the last three seasons in Cup.
Throughout his career, Gilliland has produced solid results at Talladega. In 2019, he won the ARCA Menards Series race. During his truck series days, he finished second with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2019 and third with Front Row in 2021.
At the first two drafting tracks of the season—Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway—Gilliland had speed and led laps. His 58 laps at the point in Atlanta were a career best in a race and more than he led in the first two seasons in Cup combined.
“With the speed that we had at Daytona and Atlanta, that made me super excited,” Gilliland said of his chances at Talladega. “For whatever reason, it’s just in my head mentally or what, I always feel that we run better at Talladega than Daytona. So, I’m excited. I feel like we can go out there and contend for a win.”
McDowell, who first raced with the father and now the son, agrees that the younger Gilliland will be a threat on Sunday.
“For sure he has a shot,” McDowell said. “Todd’s done a really good job this year. They haven’t gotten the results that show their speed and just the level of maturity he’s shown at these races. Atlanta, I feel like we probably had the two best cars and unfortunately just didn’t work out. He got tied up in that accident late and got damage and then I had that pit road incident. At Daytona, he led a lot of laps, so I do feel like we’re in a good spot to go challenge for a win and I’m glad that he’s confident and optimistic about winning the race.
“To be honest with you, I’m gonna do everything I can to help that happen, and I know he’ll do the same. How that all plays out is difficult, but we know the importance and what it means to win a race for Front Row Motorsports and what it means to get a car in the playoffs.”
After observing the results of fellow Ford drivers Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing over the last two seasons, McDowells believes the Front Row Motorsports teammates can duplicate that success.
“We’ve worked hard the last two years to work on what we can do together to be better and I feel like Brad and Chris sort of set that standard last year,” McDowell said. “You saw how valuable it was and so we sort of had to change the approach of how we were doing it. We were probably being a little bit too selfish and now we kind of understand where the value is in working together.
“We’ve always worked together. It’s never been him versus me. I mean, we’ve never had that atmosphere at Front Row, but it’s always been, ‘Hey, my line was going. I’m not necessarily jumping down in your line if mine is going,’ and now we’re more team effort of making those moves and trying to do it strategically together.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
