NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Overview
Event: Camping World 225 (Race 12 of 23), 150 Laps – 35/35/80; 225 Miles
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (1.5-mile tri-oval)
Date/Broadcast: June 28, 2019 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90
What You Need to Know
- This weekend, Todd Gilliland and the No. 4 Mobil 1 team will travel to the Windy City for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Camping World 225 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Gilliland has only one start at the 1.5-mile facility in 2018, where he started fourth and finished sixteenth. Last season in this event, the young driver was running third when a brush with the wall resulted in a flat tire and 16th-place finish.
- At World Wide Technology Raceway last weekend, Gilliland equaled his career-best finish with a second-place result after starting in the 11th position in the Mobil 1 Tundra.
- So far in 2019, Gilliland has recorded one pole, 39 laps led, two top-five and six top-10 finishes and has an average starting position of 8.3 and an average finish of 11.6. He currently is tied for eighth in the Gander Trucks driver point standings with 11 races completed.
- Michael Shelton will sit atop the box this weekend for the talented teenager. Shelton was James Buescher’s crew chief when he won the Gander Truck Series championship in 2012. The North Carolina native has seven career Gander Truck Series victories atop the pit box, including four with Buescher during their championship season. Shelton has six starts at Chicagoland, with one win in 2012 with Buescher, one top-five and three top-10 finishes.
- The world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1 features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.
Todd Gilliland, Driver Q&A
You’re coming off your best career finish at Gateway, what do you need to do to get that win?
“Just need to be a little bit better than last weekend. Overall it was really smooth last weekend, we unloaded really fast, we just made a few tweaks to go racing and ended up being pretty good at the end. If we just have a little more speed overall and put together a little bit better race, that’s the stuff it takes to win. Now that we’re running top-five we can focus on the smaller details that can get us to race winning speed. I’m happy with the progress we’ve made over the past couple weeks, we just need to keep it up.”
What makes Chicago unique?
“Chicago is really wore out, really, really rough, so it’s about making the truck work really good over the bumps, keep turning all night and not being scared to move up the race track. It’s going to be a really fun race to move around from the bottom to the very top. Hopefully we can be the one who does it best and find that extra grip all night.”
Todd Gilliland Career Highlights
- In 36 career Gander Trucks starts has collected two poles, eight top-five and 18 top-10 finishes and led 247 laps. Gilliland earned a career-best second-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Ill., in June of 2018, and followed up with another runner-up finish at Gateway in 2019.
- Has posted two wins, one pole, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 6.0 across eight 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 23 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts has accumulated seven wins, two poles, 15 top-five and 21 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 Mobil 1 Tundra:
KBM-052: The No. 4 Mobil 1 team has prepared chassis KBM-052 for the Camping World 225 on Friday at Chicagoland Speedway. This chassis has six starts with an average start of 5.0 and an average finish of 7.2. Most recently, Gilliland raced this machine to a third-place finish at Kansas Speedway earlier this season.
KBM Notes of Interest
- KBM drivers have 21 starts at Chicagoland Speedway and have earned four wins, 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes, with an average starting position of 7.9 and an average finish of 8.0.
- Owner-driver Kyle Busch has earned all four wins for KBM at Chicagoland Speedway in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
- KBM holds the Gander Truck Series records for most career wins (74) 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).