Top Dog: Todd Gilliland
Everyone yearns for the underdog, but it is particularly special in racing. Unlike stick-and-ball sports where a team’s success is almost entirely dependent on their personnel, a motorsports team could have the greatest engineers, drivers, crew chiefs and pit crews, but they are still limited by funds, sponsorship and how fast their car can go.
While it has shown flashes of solid runs in the last few years, Front Row Motorsports does not have anywhere near the amount of funding as the sport’s juggernauts. Looking at the unfilled In-Season Challenge bracket weeks ago may have been daunting for FRM and Todd Gilliland, but in racing, even the greatest drivers get caught up in a wreck or have an issue, so it is never over until the end.
Gilliland and FRM’s No. 34 team fought through the tournament, outrunning their first opponent, Daniel Suarez, at Sonoma Raceway. They stayed in the fight following Chicagoland Speedway after Carson Hocevar was put into the wall. They then survived Atlanta and finished ahead of quarterfinal rival Alex Bowman. The team chose to stay out on older tires longer at North Wilkesboro Speedway, waiting for a caution they eventually got, while semifinal opponent Chase Elliott had pitted and was trapped a lap behind for the rest of the race.
For the final round, Gilliland had to face Ryan Blaney in the prestigious Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday (July 26). Blaney is one of the best drivers in NASCAR right now and was the favorite by far. In his last two races at Indianapolis, Blaney finished third and seventh. Gilliland, however, finished sixth in his two races at The Brickyard, so there was a possibility he could beat Blaney on pace.
Nevertheless, as the race went on, it was clear that Gilliland was lacking speed, and in order for him to win the In-Season Challenge and the $1 million prize, something needed to go wrong for Blaney. The team didn’t give up, fortune fell their way, and by a relatively close margin, Gilliland and FRM left Indianapolis with a hefty check.
The Climb to the Top
The already near-impossible task of outrunning Blaney started off at a major deficit. Blaney qualified 13th, while Gilliland’s qualifying lap only resulted in a 36th-place start. This would be tough at any other track, but Indianapolis is arguably the hardest track to pass at in the NASCAR Cup Series, so the No. 34 team would have to rely on strategy.
The first stage did not look good for Gilliland, ending up in 33rd after the opening segment was completed. The car was handling so poorly that the No. 34 crew had an extended pit stop to try to fix it.
Strategy in stage two was across the board. With Gilliland pitting at the stage break, he could make it the farthest of anyone on fuel. He stayed out, cycling to second. As the fuel tank got lower, the yellow flag came out with only a few laps left in the stage, causing it to end under caution. Nine points for the finish in stage two was great, but Gilliland had to pit and restarted the final stage in the back.
Meanwhile, Blaney lined up 15th to begin the stage. Even though the No. 34 car had more fuel than Blaney’s No. 12 and could therefore have a shorter stop, it wouldn’t be enough to get past the gap there was between the two cars.
With 46 laps to go, the caution was thrown for a small piece of debris. This caution fell perfectly into the No. 34 team’s hand. The field entered the pits bunched up, so with less fuel to put in, they could gain some spots. That alone was not enough to pass Blaney in the pits, but it got Gilliland closer. The pits opened with 44 laps to go, so it was possible to finish without pitting again.
Even with less fuel needed, Gilliland restarted outside the top 20, while Blaney restarted 13th. The field went down the backstretch like a swarm, with the No. 12 right in the middle of it. Entering turn three, Gilliland was running around 22nd when the field finally came undone. Blaney threw a block on John Hunter Nemechek, who did not cut him a break, and spun into the wall. Gilliland drove through on the bottom, and just like that, took the lead of the In-Season Challenge.
Gilliland restarted 20th. The contact with the wall was substantial, but Blaney was still at pace with the cars in the back after repairing the damage. Meanwhile, Gilliland did not get a good follow-up restart. With 30 laps to go, he was down to 24th, and Blaney was only four spots behind. With 16 laps left, Gilliland stayed put, while Blaney moved up to 26th. The only thing separating the two challengers was dirty air and A.J. Allmendinger.
As the laps wound down, Blaney’s progress halted. Gilliland finished 24th, but it was enough to win the 2026 In-Season Challenge over Blaney.
Looking Ahead
The majority of the time when NASCAR has a major cash prize, it is won by a large team. The Dash 4 Cash races, Triple Truck Challenge races, and All-Star Races are almost always won by major teams. With FRM winning one million dollars, we get to see what that will do for a small team.
As we learned last year through the lawsuit against NASCAR (ironically involving FRM), running a Cup Series team is expensive, and it may be naïve to say it will even touch the expenses required to field a car. Nevertheless, this is great exposure for FRM and Gilliland. Gilliland has something Cup Series-related to put on his resume, and finding a sponsor may be a little bit easier now for the No. 34 car.
Top Dogs of the Lower Series
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series: For the second O’Reilly race in a row, Jeremy Clements appeared to have one of the fastest cars. After qualifying fourth, it was clear that the No. 51 was fast in clean air. Clements worked his way to the lead 24 laps into the race and won the first stage. After a slow pit stop, he was in traffic for stage two, and the handling he had at the front wasn’t the same in dirty air.
In the final stage, Clements started experiencing low voltage on his No. 51 Chevrolet. In the closing laps, he went into the pits under green to address the issue. Ultimately, he finished in 37th, three laps down. It was for sure a disappointing result, but with nine laps led and a stage win on the day, Jeremy Clements Racing is improving and starting to fit in among the top 10.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: Michael Christopher Jr. ran a career race on Friday night (July 24) at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. Making his third career Truck start, he started the night in 11th. The race didn’t begin well, as he dropped outside the top 15 within two laps. With IRP being only 0.686 miles in length, and leader Layne Riggs setting a blistering pace, there was a risk of Christopher Jr.’s No. 62 being lapped in the first stage. However, he held on and finished the stage 13th of 14 cars on the lead lap.
In stage two, Christopher Jr. worked his way forward. Within a few laps, he broke into the top 10. He continued his climb and finished eighth in the second stage. In the final segment, the No. 62 truck continued to run well, finishing 10th in the race. The result beats Christopher Jr.’s previous best finish of 13th and was only four spots short of HFR owner-driver Stewart Friesen. Given more reps, Christopher Jr. can be a contender in the Truck Series.
Small Team Scheme of the Week
Purple race cars are like movie theater candy; everyone forgets how good they are. Joey Gase Motorsports brought a masterfully designed purple No. 55 Chevrolet to Indianapolis. Driven by Joey Gase himself, the Flex Power-sponsored car had a lilac base with a black rear end. Yellow, black, and darker purple lines resembling bolts added to the electric theme.
Despite the speedy look the car gave off, Gase finished two laps down in 36th. It was a disappointing finish, but the car looked in style doing it.
