NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Overview
Event: Gander Trucks 200 (Race 23 of 23), 134 Laps –30/30/74; 201 Miles
Location: Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Nov. 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- Todd Gilliland and the No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM team take on Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway this Friday night in the season finale for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Gilliland has one start at the 1.5-mile oval in 2018, when he finished 13th.
- At ISM Raceway last weekend, Gilliland piloted his No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM Tundra to a 14th-place finish. So far on the season, Gilliland has compiled one win, six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, as well as one pole. He has led 72 laps and earned an average starting position of 7.9 and an average finish of 10.7. He sits 10th in the Gander Truck Series point standings.
- Wes Ward, who has served as shop foreman at KBM since 2015, moves over to the role of full-time crew chief and will be atop the box for Gilliland for the remainder of the 2019 season. Ward is a veteran crew chief with more than 300 Xfinity Series races on his resume, as well as 26 Gander Trucks races with three victories. Ward’s drivers have two Truck Series starts and 10 NXS starts with one win, Kasey Kahne, in 2003.
- Voting for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series has begun. To cast your vote for Gilliland, go to www.nascar.com/ganderoutdoorsmostpopulardriver Follow and show your support with hashtag #Vote4Todd
- JBL will adorn the hood of the No. 4 Tundra. JBL creates the amazing sound that shapes life’s most epic moments. From iconic events like Woodstock and concerts at Madison Square Garden, to games at Yankee Stadium and weekend road trips, JBL elevates listeners’ experiences with award-winning audio that lets them make the most of every moment. With unmatched professional credentials and over 70 years of delivering industry leading innovation, JBL is the authority in engineering superior sound. JBL is part of the HARMAN portfolio of brands admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. HARMAN designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. In 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
What are your thoughts going into the season finale this weekend?
“Last year at Homestead we didn’t run that great, but this year we’re going a little bit different. I feel like Homestead is just a fun track overall. It’s a great place to finish out the season. The last championship race is there for now. It’s just an all around really cool experience, the weather’s great, so we’ll go down there and enjoy that for a little bit and hopefully have a great run.”
How is Homestead different than other 1.5-mile tracks?
“Homestead is just shaped different than most other mile-and-a-half race tracks we go to, as well as the racing surface is really worn out. That makes for great racing, you can move up and down the race track. A place like Texas is a brand-new surface so that’s where you really see the one lane right at the bottom and I think Homestead’s been different for that. I’ve seen a lot of people run right by the wall and a lot of people right at the bottom. It’s a lot of fun to be able to move around. It makes it easier to pass and you’re sliding around, I think every driver is having fun.”
Todd Gilliland Career Highlights
- In 47 career Gander Trucks starts, has collected one win, two poles, 12 top-five and 25 top-10 finishes and led 280 laps. Gilliland earned his first Gander Trucks win at Martinsville Speedway in October of 2019, one year after earning his first career pole in the same race.
- Has posted two wins, two poles, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 5.6 across nine career ARCA Racing Series starts. He became the youngest winner in series history with his victory at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway two days after his 15th birthday in May of 2015 and his most recent win came at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on May 3, 2019.
- Crowned the 2016 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion after collecting six wins, six poles, 11 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes, making him the youngest champion in the history of any NASCAR national or touring series. Won a second consecutive K&N Pro Series West championship in 2017 after recording six wins, seven poles, 937 laps led, 11 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes across 14 starts.
- In 24 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts has accumulated seven wins, two poles, 16 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 4.5. His most recent victory came at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April of 2018.
Todd Gilliland’s No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM Tundra:
KBM-057: The No. 4 JBL/SiriusXM team will unload chassis KBM-057 for the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday. This chassis was brand new earlier this year, with Gilliland running it four times at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Pocono Raceway, finishing seventh each time other than Texas, where he finished 27th following a wreck after leading 31 laps.
KBM Notes of Interest
- In 23 starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway, KBM drivers have four wins and one pole position. They have achieved nine top-finishes, 12 top-10 finishes and an average starting position of 11.6 and an average finish of 10.6 with 291 laps led.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch captured the victories in 2010 and 2013, Darrell Wallace Jr. won in 2014 and William Byron won from the pole in 2016.
- KBM holds the Gander Truck Series records for most career wins (75) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). In addition to collecting a series-record six Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers; Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
