NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overview
Event: Fr8Auctions 250, Race 19 of 23, 94 Laps – 20/20/54; 250.04 Miles
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Oct. 13, 2018 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- David Gilliland, driver of the No. 51 PEDIGREE® Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM), will make his first career start in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) competition at Talladega. Overall, this will be Gilliland’s 14th start in the NCWTS with two top-five and five top-10 finishes.
- Although Gilliland has no prior NCWTS starts at Talladega, he has 18 starts under his belt in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. He has earned two top-five, four top-10 finishes and one pole. He also has one NASCAR XFINITY Series start.
- One of Gilliland’s KBM teammates this weekend will be his son, Todd. The elder Gilliland drove the No. 4 PEDIGREE® Tundra at Daytona International Speedway in the season opener since Todd was only 17 and did not meet the age requirement to compete. This time father and son will be teammates and competitors as Todd took the wheel of the No. 4 Tundra full time after his 18th birthday in May.
- Not only will Gilliland be competing against his son at Talladega, he will also be racing against his own team. He is the co-owner of DGR-Crosley which will field one entry with Bo LeMastus in the Fr8auctions 250.
- PEDIGREE® will sponsor David and Todd Gilliland at Talladega. David’s No. 51 Tundra will have the iconic adult Golden Retriever while Todd’s No. 4 Tundra will be promoting PEDIGREE’s puppy food.
David Gilliland, Driver Q&A
What did you take away from the truck race at Daytona earlier this year that you can apply at Talladega?
“The main thing is just how fun these trucks are to drive. The KBM trucks had a lot of speed at Daytona and I know they are going to at Talladega too, so they are just a lot of fun. Obviously, we got wrecked there towards the end, but we had a lot of speed. Bump drafting on the tri-oval is always dangerous in the trucks because of the way they line up. We’re going to keep that in mind and hopefully be up front towards the end.”
What will it be like running against your son and your own team?
“That’s going to be interesting for sure. I’m more excited for this race than any race that I ever have been excited for in my whole life — racing with Todd is always fun, but getting to race against him in his first superspeedway race. I’ve been trying to talk to him and go over the stuff that I’ve learned over the years that has helped me and the mistakes that I’ve made that have hurt me too to try and help him get ahead of that curve. I’m really excited to race against Bo (LeMastus) in our DGR-Crosley truck, that is going to be interesting too. Hopefully we can all be up there at the end and hopefully one of us takes the checkers.”
It’s the last lap with you and Todd running first and second. What do you think will happen?
“Oh man, I’ve been asked this question a million times and it’s funny because when Todd is standing next to me and they ask him he says ‘I’m gonna win, I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to win,’ and obviously we want to win. I want to win and get our PEDIGREE® Toyota Tundra in Victory Lane, but if we can be one-two coming across the line I’m definitely going to do everything I can do to win, but we’ll see. I know if the roles are reversed Todd’s going to leave me and bail, but we’ll see.”
David Gilliland Career Highlights
- Gilliland has 333 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts with four top-five, eight top-10 finishes and three poles, including leading the field to green at the 2007 Daytona 500
- In addition to his MENCS starts, Gilliland has 56 XFINITY Series starts resulting in one win (Kentucky Speedway in Sparta), one top-five and three top-10 finishes
- He has two top-five and five top-10 finishes in his 13 NCWTS starts
David Gilliland’s No. 51 PEDIGREE® Tundra:
KBM-026: The No. 51 team will race KBM-026, for Saturday’s race at Talladega. Spencer Davis finished seventh with this Tundra at Daytona in February.
