MOORESVILLE, N.C. — At age 24 and with 115 NASCAR Cup Series starts under his belt, Todd Gilliland has found himself as the senior leader of the three-driver Front Row Motorsports operation.
Moving to the No. 34 Ford in place of Michael McDowell this season, Gilliland leads a team that also includes Noah Gragson and Zane Smith.
Gilliland finished 10th at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway last week and it was his second top-10 finish of the season.
Becoming the senior driver has been a transition for the third-generation racer.
“I don’t really feel like any more pressure or anything like that,” he explained during a media teleconference on Tuesday. “I feel like the biggest thing I was focused on at the beginning was making sure that Zane and Noah knew their way around – everything. I kind of feel like I know how things work and all that stuff.
“Obviously, Zane has been here in a different role and won a lot of races with Front Row Motorsports on the truck side. More so, Noah is definitely a little bit different than how his old team was, so I wanted to make sure those guys were all ready for it coming over here.
“The biggest thing now is that I feel like all of our opinions are very trusted,” Gilliland added. “I respect my teammates a lot and their experience and what they’re feeling, especially with all of us being the same age and getting along so well, I feel like we talk so much and bounce ideas off each other that a lot of times we really come to the same agreement in the end. I feel like that’s super collective on any feedback and all that stuff we give to the team.”
Learning to communicate what the cars are doing on the race track has been important for the Front Row Motorsports trio.
“I think, how different all three of us are is very interesting – of how we explain stuff,” Gilliland said. “I think that’s one thing going through our meetings. I’m listening to when Zane or Noah are explaining something, and then we talk about it and I’m like, ‘OK, that’s what I was feeling too,’ but we describe things very differently as different people.
“I think on the race track nothing has surprised me a ton. I’ve raced against them for a long time,” Gilliland added. “I think all three of us are very aggressive at times and probably have other strengths as well. I think it’s been fun and everything has been great. I think nothing has surprised me in a bad way – only positive surprises in the way that we’re all able to work together and get focused on what we need to.”
Gilliland said there is a chemistry among the three drivers.
“It’s been a great time. That was the part I was sure of, that we were gonna have fun,” Gilliland said. “Whether you’re running good or bad those guys are a lot of fun to hang out with. I’ve hung out with them for years now off the racetrack. I would say I’ve raced more with Noah along the way.
“We were teammates back in the Truck Series before, so I had more of an idea with him and Zane with his personality and to hang out with him it’s the same thing. He’s a lot of fun. He’s much different than Noah. Both of them have great personalities, but very different.
“I think the thing I’ve been most impressed with is all three of our abilities to focus and lock in when it’s time to do so,” Gilliland added. “We had our competition meeting this morning and every Tuesday, and I think that’s the most important part when we can all focus and get to the bottom of racing ideas. The fun aspect is definitely gonna happen with all three of us together at any time.”
Leave a Reply