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The Underdog House: Todd Gilliland Regains His Footing Brick By Brick at Indianapolis
(Photo Credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography)

The Underdog House: Todd Gilliland Regains His Footing Brick By Brick at Indianapolis

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Top Dog: Todd Gilliland

When Michael McDowell announced his departure for Spire Motorsports last season, it left sizable shoes to fill for the position of captain at Front Row Motorsports.

After all, who could carry the work left by a veteran who had delivered half of the team’s NASCAR Cup Series victories in its history?

That lot fell upon Todd Gilliland, an FRM prodigy who had been the Robin to McDowell’s Batman since his rookie season in 2022.

Gilliland (25) was positioned as the leader of a trio of youth at FRM, still the youngest of a roster consisting of Zane Smith (26) and Noah Gragson (27). Yet, given the experience and results, it seemed like Gilliland was primed to be a playoff dark horse this season.

Instead, the team has wavered a bit, perhaps from the distraction of the ongoing joint lawsuit with 23XI Racing against NASCAR, as well as plenty of bad luck.

Here’s What Happened in the 23XI/FRM Lawsuit vs NASCAR This Week (July 19-25)

Gilliland has been in the middle of that frustration, swinging from a driver known for his consistency to one who’s been mired in a rut. Entering the annual Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Gilliland had suffered eight consecutive finishes outside the top 20.

However, he swung the pendulum back in the complete opposite direction, finishing sixth at the crown jewel to hopefully kickstart a strong second half.

Rolling off in 19th, it didn’t take long for drivers to recognize the challenges of dirty air, as handling issues plagued Gilliland early on, sending him back to 26th by the end of stage one. However, some adjustments and gained track position righted the ship in stage two, where he returned to the top 20 in 20th after receiving the free pass in the stage.

In the final stage, Gilliland ran a few laps longer than most of the field when the final green flag pit stops commenced, reaching the top three before coming to the pits. He sat just outside the top 15 when a stray shower halted the action briefly.

The delay set up an overtime restart, and with restarts serving as the prime opportunity to pass, that led to another overtime due to aggression. Between drivers pitting for fuel and melee on the restarts, Gilliland worked his way through to secure his first top 10 since Martinsville Speedway.

Despite the trials of this season, Gilliland is only one top 10 away from matching his single-season career-high (four), and earning a top 10 at one of the most historic venues in sports is a stepping stone to getting back on track.

Notable Underdog Runs

There’s been a lot of debate this season about who’s had the worst misfortune in the garage, and despite the controversy he’s faced this season, Carson Hocevar can throw his name in that hat. Incidents in each of the past three weeks have bedeviled the sophomore driver, but he, too, rebounded in a big way to earn 10th place in Indy.

Once again, the speed was evident in Hocevar’s No. 77 when he qualified eighth. That carried over into the race, where the 22-year-old was a fixture inside the top 10, including spurts in the top five. He tallied a pair of seventh-place stage results as well to score an extra eight points on his total.

Mixed strategies allowed a few drivers to leapfrog Hocevar in the final stage during green flag pit stops, but the caution for rain was what he needed to reset and lock in.

A driver who usually finds himself in the midst of heated battles, Hocevar outlasted drivers on both fuel and discipline to score his fifth top 10 of the year, one short of tying his rookie mark a year ago (six).

Behind Hocevar was his Spire teammate Justin Haley, an anchor for the team through waves of speed and peril recently. Haley’s 11th-place finish capped off a stout day for the native of Winamac, Ind., about two hours north of IMS.

Haley’s day was full of strategy, first staying out at the end of stage one, where he fell a lap down after cycling back on track. However, Haley was able to get his lap back and get back in the hunt.

In the final stage, extra fuel from previous stops allowed Haley to run longer than most of the field, assuming the lead on lap 122. He paced the field for 15 laps before making his final stop and re-entering inside the top 20.

Just like Hocevar, Haley was able to maneuver his way through the shuffling of the final two overtime restarts to just miss out on the top 10. The result is Haley’s best finish since a 10th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March, and he is now riding a solid string of three consecutive finishes of 17th or better.

John Hunter Nemechek gave the underdogs three representatives within the top dozen, capping off a strong weekend for the Legacy Motor Club team. Nemechek was second in practice and paced multiple lap average categories before hitting the wall in qualifying.

Starting 36th, Nemechek jumped to 16th by the end of stage one after staying out while several other drivers pitted. However, strategy options allowed Nemechek to carry more leverage into the second frame, wrapping the stage up in 12th.

Nemechek was one of the drivers to pit as soon as the red flag was lifted for rain in the closing laps. Dodging an accident on the first overtime attempt, as well as racing with the insurance of a full fuel tank, Nemechek drove to 12th. With nine top 15s on the year, the 28-year-old has easily eclipsed that mark from last year, where he only recorded six.

Perhaps one of the most surprising and pleasant stories of the race was Katherine Legge, who broke through to finish 17th, a career-best result in her fifth Cup start.

Making more history of her own as just the second woman to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400, Legge was able to withstand the passing difficulties of the race, staying on the lead lap while other drivers lost theirs’ during the first two stages.

Legge was one of a handful of drivers to run long during the final green flag pit stop cycle, finally pitting to sit just outside the top 20. However, the late-race shenanigans of weather and on-track battles gave her an opening to move forward, and that’s just what she did to collect her second top 20 of the season, passing some Cup winners in the process.

Many gains have been made by the 45-year-old since a rather forgettable debut at Phoenix Raceway earlier this year, and her ability to adapt quickly has been on display, even more impressive coming with the underfunded team of Live Fast Motorsports. Her finish even bested her four attempts in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” where her best result in the 500 is 22nd.

Meanwhile, the Cinderella slipper fell off for Ty Dillon in his quest for the crown of the In-Season Challenge, falling to Ty Gibbs in the finals. Nose damage sustained on a restart stack-up acted like a parachute on Dillon’s car, and he finished 28th. Still, give the Kaulig Racing driver his flowers for providing one of the most memorable storylines over the past month.

Underdog Power Rankings

1. Haley (+2): Three consecutive top 20s for the first time this season suddenly feature Haley as Spire’s most consistent driver as of late, laying the groundwork for a strong second half should this continue. Those chances are favorable at Iowa Speedway, where Haley finished 13th in the inaugural Cup race there last year.

2. Nemechek (+2): Despite the misfortunes to his LMC teammate Erik Jones, Nemechek received the torch with exuberance for the team, carrying the organization’s banner to a top 15. With the team’s improvement this season, Nemechek has a grand opportunity to elevate his performance at Iowa from a year ago, where he finished 26th.

3. Shane van Gisbergen (NR): The New Zealander’s recent shellacking of the field on road courses wasn’t included here due to his prowess and equipment, but van Gisbergen’s oval performance is beginning to steadily increase as well, continuing with a top 20 at Indy. Though he is adamantly not at the mark he envisioned on the ovals, he continues to take it one step at a time and learn with patience, which will serve him well in his debut in The Hawkeye State.

4. Gilliland (NR): Indianapolis has served as a favorable spot for Gilliland, whose best Cup finish came on the road course layout in 2022 when he finished fourth. A sixth-place finish in this year’s rendition on the oval is just what he needed to regain confidence in a down year up to this point. And though the field only has one start at Iowa under their belts, it stands near the top for Gilliland as far as average finish goes, where he finished 12th last season.

5. Hocevar (NR): Three torrential weeks dropped Hocevar out of the rankings, but he makes his return in an exceptional way with a top 10 at The Brickyard. Win-or-bust can carry two very polar opposites to the Hocevar we see, but momentum should serve him well, especially at an Iowa track where he finished 14th as a rookie.

Honorable Mentions: McDowell, Smith, Cole Custer

Small Team Scheme of the Week

Call me biased considering my fondness for red race cars (thank you, Lightning McQueen), but Custer’s No. 41 looked dressed to meet the yard of bricks in Indianapolis. With Autodesk hopping aboard this week, this scheme is consistently one of the craftiest in the field, and it stands above the rest of the underdog schemes this week.

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Entering his fifth year with Frontstretch, Luken Glover is the author of The Underdog House, shedding light on the motivation and performance of NASCAR's dark horse teams as they strive to fight to the top. Additionally, Glover reports for the site at various events, and he contributes in the video editing department.

A 2023 graduate of the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is a middle school math and PE teacher, as well as a basketball coach. He is passionate about serving in his church, playing/coaching a wide variety of sports, and researching motorsports history.

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