Fred’s to sponsor Gilliland at Daytona
MOORESVILLE, NC (February 4, 2019) – DGR-Crosley announced today that team co-owner David Gilliland will drive the team’s No. 17 entry in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series season opener at Daytona (Fl.) International Speedway. Gilliland’s Toyota Tundra will carry sponsorship from Fred’s, a general merchandise retailer with over 600 locations nationwide.
Fred’s first partnered with DGR-Crosley last season, sponsoring them in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and Truck Series. The relationship will continue into the 2019 season beginning at Daytona with Gilliland behind the wheel as he fills in for 17-year-old Tyler Ankrum.
“We are excited to continue our relationship with David and Bo [LeMastus] at DGR-Crosley this year,” said, Milton Peters. “They showed tremendous speed and efforts last year, and we are proud to be back this season. David is a veteran behind the wheel and has seen a lot of success at restrictor plate tracks. It made perfect sense for us to partner with him at Daytona.”
The NextEra 250 at Daytona will mark Gilliland’s third truck series start at the two-and-a-half-mile track. During his most recent start in 2018, he collected the Pole and led for 30 laps before being caught up in an accident with five laps remaining. Overall this will mark Gilliland’s 24th career start at the famed Daytona International Speedway where he has collected one top-five and four top-10 finishes. He has also qualified on the Pole three times.
“It means a lot that Fred’s is coming back on board with our team this season,” said Gilliland. “As a team owner these relationships are super important, and we’ve really enjoyed working with Milton and the team at Fred’s. We also excited to welcome Valvoline, CONAIR and Maxell to DGR-Crosley for this race. There’s a lot of exciting things going on – I’m looking forward to building these partnership both as a driver and owner.”
Gilliland will be filling the seat for 17-year-old Tyler Ankrum in Daytona, who will be forced to miss the first three races of the season due to NASCAR’s age restrictions.
“Daytona is a special race track, there’s nothing like it,” Gilliland remarked. “It’s even more special that I get to drive a DGR-Crosley prepared Tundra that our guys have been working so hard on. I think we legitimately have a shot to go down there, open some eyes and show how competitive we are going to be this season.”
The NextEra 250 will be broadcast live on FS1 on Friday, February 15 at 7:30 p.m., ET.
ABOUT Fred’s: Fred’s is a Memphis, Tenn. based general store chain operating 600 locations nationwide. Fred’s also features pharmacies in some of those locations. Visit Fred’s online at www.fredsinc.com, and visit their social media pages @FredsInc on Facebook and Twitter.
