Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: Gander Outdoors Camping World Truck Series

  • NGROTS Advance: Atlanta Motor Speedway

    NGROTS Advance: Atlanta Motor Speedway

    No. 38 Mannington Commercial Ford F-150, Todd Gilliland
    ‌
    Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway, 1.54-mile oval
    Race: 3 of 23
    Event: Vet Tix Camping World 200 (200 miles, 130 laps)

    Schedule:    
    Friday, March 13
    1:35 p.m…………Practice
    4:32 p.m…………Final Practice
    Saturday, March 14
    10:05 a.m………..Qualifying
    1:30 p.m…..……Race (FS1)
    (all times ET)

    Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Mannington Commercial Ford F-150

    Todd Gilliland and his No. 38 Front Row Motorsports (FRM) team will carry new colors this weekend at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway as the team welcomes Mannington Commercial, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of fine flooring, to the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

    With a newly structured schedule this season, the Truck Series will head to the one-and-a-half-mile track near Atlanta for the third race of the 2020 season. The No. 38 team has a best finish of seventh-place this year which occurred at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Gilliland and his FRM team have been strong contenders each race weekend, running inside the top-five and challenging for the lead multiple times. They currently sit ninth in Driver Point Standings.

    Gilliland has one previous start at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which occurred in 2019. The 19-year-old driver started the race from the 11th position and collected a ninth-place finish in his track debut last season. While Gilliland doesn’t have a lot of experience on the abrasive track in Atlanta, he has practiced on the Ford Performance Simulator as well as spent time with his spotter, Coleman Pressley, reviewing film in preparation for Saturday’s event.

    The No. 38 Mannington Ford F-150 will compete in the 130 lap Vet Tix Camping World 200 on Saturday, March 14, at 1:30 p.m., ET. A live broadcast of the race will be shown on FS1.

    Quick Facts:
    Number of Starts at Atlanta: 1
    Best Start: 11th
    Best Finish: 9th
    2020 Driver Point Standings: 9th

    Gilliland on Atlanta: “Overall, I’m excited for Atlanta this weekend. It’s one of the most fun mile-and-a-half race tracks that we go to because it has a very worn out surface. On top of the great racing it produces, there will be a lot of Cup Series drivers racing this weekend, which will help us put on an even better show for the fans. I’m really hoping that we have a good finish on Saturday for everyone working hard at Front Row Motorsports and for our new sponsor Mannington Commercial. The truck looks great, and I want to give them a nice welcome to our team and the Truck Series. We’ve been strong in both races so far this season, just don’t have the finishes to show how well we’ve been running.”

  • Hill’s Daytona win solidifies Hattori Racing as Toyota powerhouse

    Hill’s Daytona win solidifies Hattori Racing as Toyota powerhouse

    When 2018 Gander Outdoor Truck Series champion Brett Moffitt was released from Hattori Racing Enterprises following his title win only to be replaced by underdog Austin Hill for the 2019 season, there were questions, of course. Moffitt was a proven winner, Hill was not. Moffitt could contend on any race track, Hill only had a few strong runs. Moffitt was a champion, Hill wasn’t.

    Yet there was little doubt that the move to HRE could end up making a winner out of Hill, which is exactly what happened Friday night when he won the NextEra 250 at Daytona. Hill, who led the most laps (39), managed to stay out of trouble the most during the caution-filled event and nab the first Truck Series win of his career. Hill is the sixth driver to score his first truck series win at Daytona International Speedway.

    Regardless of Hill’s current employer, the fact that he won so soon out of the gate is still surprising. He came into the 2019 season with only a top-five and eight top-10s under his belt, with a career-best finish of fifth at Texas last fall. All of of which occurred over a span of 51 starts since 2014 while driving for a spate of owners, from Ricky Benton’s No. 92 team to his own family team’s No. 20 to Young’s Motorsports last season. In short, he hadn’t accomplished much during his time in the Truck Series. To be fair, though, his first full campaign in the series was 2018, where he managed to grab the bulk of his top-10 finishes.

    Meanwhile, by proving themselves an organization that can produce multiple winners, HRE has also shown themselves to be an adequate foil to the Toyota dominance of Kyle Busch Motorsports, an organization long thought to be the gold standard for Toyota in the Truck Series. However, while KBM fields multiple entries for both title pursuit and driver development, HRE has the luxury of a competitive single-car team to pursue victories and championships with.

    This is the way the sport should be. A team which started out as a solid mid-pack/occasional contender has grown enough and established itself enough that it is now a contender for wins and championships, and right now it holds seven wins with two drivers and a championship – all since the beginning of the 2018 season. They are setting a great pace for themselves in terms of success, and although Daytona is known to be a wild card – emphasis on “wild” – Shigeaki Hattori and Crew Chief Scott Zippadelli know now how to build a team around a driver. Ryan Truex was a consistent finisher with them, Moffitt was a champion with them, and now underdog-turned-winner Hill is bringing home the trophy from Daytona for them.

    It wasn’t too long before the 2018 season started that Moffitt was on a job hunt, with only a win at Michigan in 2016 to his credit. Imagine what Hill can accomplish this season with such an established team. If he can win at Daytona, then it isn’t a matter of if he can win again in the No. 16, but when.

    Here’s a hint: Soon.