Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
EVENT: Playoff Media Day
TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Crosley Ford F-150 – DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A FAVORITE IN THESE PLAYOFFS? “I definitely don’t think we can say we’re a favorite, but I really do think over the last two or three months we’ve been a top two or three type guy week in and week out. That gives me a lot of confidence. This is definitely the most confident I’ve ever been going to the playoffs. Last year was my first year. This year we have a little bit of a buffer to start and then just how we’ve been running recently I definitely think we can be a top two or three guy.”
WHAT WOULD BE IN YOUR PLAYOFF PLAYBOOK OF THINGS YOU MUST DO AND THINGS YOU CAN’T DO? “I think under the things you absolutely can’t do is make bad mistakes. You have to have good restarts. I think that could be the two things that could get you in trouble, but things you have to do, I think with the way we’ve been running you just have to keep doing the same things. You can’t really look at it too much different, except maybe kick it up another notch and just go racing, and really keep having fun with it.”
HOW IS YOUR TEAM BETTER THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST? “Really, I don’t know if this has been a big part, but last year we were working out of the DGR shop and then this year we’ve been at Front Row Motorsports, just right beside the Cup cars, and having two really good Cup teams just walking by your trucks, just looking at them every chance they can get makes a difference. I think another year of truck experience for my crew chief. Building notes. Last year it was really hard to have your first truck season as a crew chief when you can’t go to the racetrack and really learn from practice. I think going back we’ve really stepped it up at the racetracks we struggled at last year, and then also continue to run good at the ones that we did run good at last year, so I think that’s the biggest thing for me – crew chief setup-wise, having a much better idea after going to these places once.”
YOU HAD THE TRUCK TO BEAT AT GATEWAY LAST YEAR, BUT IT DIDN’T END THE WAY YOU HOPED. IS THAT MOTIVATION FOR THIS YEAR? “Yeah, absolutely. Just it being the first race of the playoffs, to start off on a good foot. Last year, we went out and won both stages and then I’d say I had a top five truck at the end of the race and got wrecked, but just overall to have that confidence going into the first race of the playoffs. I think even if we came out of here with a really solid run that would definitely set our playoffs on the right track.”
IS CONSISTENCY THE NEXT SEVEN RACES GOING TO BE ENOUGH OR WILL YOU NEED TO WIN? “Really, the greedy side of you obviously wants to win, but I’d say with the way we’ve been running and we’ve been getting really good stage points, I mean you still have to be super consistent, but you also have to go for wins. Hopefully, our consistency can keep ratcheting up a notch every so often. I think we’ve been doing that. We were just inside the top 10 and now we’ve been top 5 every week. Now if we can go to top three for the whole playoffs, then obviously that will put you in a good spot to be one of the top four to go to Phoenix, and then once you get there you’ve got to go for broke and go all-out for the win. It would be nice to get an early win in one of these rounds, but being smart and being consistent can get your (rest of answer is unclear).”
DO YOU FORGET SOMETIMES THIS IS ONLY YOUR SECOND YEAR AS A TEAM? “Yeah, I definitely do think of that. Even last year to make the playoffs, I think we all kind of expected it and honestly probably expected a little bit more than we did last year. We wanted to kind of go out and get a win or two or three, but to make the playoffs in our first year was pretty cool, and then this year we started off the season pretty rough and even the progress this year has been awesome for me to see because really everyone was down pretty bad. We started off wrecking at Daytona and then just had a lot of bad runs at the beginning of the season, where the guys could have definitely given up, but that was one thing I think has really helped my team is that everyone races go-karts with each other at Millbridge and just the camaraderie on our team is like one I’ve never been on and it’s a great thing.”
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT SEASON? “Honestly, I haven’t talked about it much, just kind of focusing on winning a championship and really put myself in the best spot come November.”
IS THERE A PATH TO RUN XFINITY NEXT YEAR? “I don’t know. I haven’t talked about that, but certainly as a driver I would love to move up to the Xfinity Series. I’ve been in the truck series for four or five seasons now and it’s a lot of fun. This has been by far my best season and moving up to the Xfinity Series would be amazing, but honestly I have not talked to anyone about it.”
WHAT IS THE MOOD LIKE AT FRONT ROW THESE DAYS? “It’s really good. Even starting off the year with the Daytona 500 win, like I said earlier, this is our first year in the shop, but really those guys take a lot of pride in watching the truck compete for wins and top fives every single week. That does raise the spirit and like I said too those guys just being the Cup Series team trying to be a part of it is a huge benefit to us. I think the two have lived in there really well together and probably benefitted each other quite a bit.”
WHICH TRACK IN THE PLAYOFFS DO YOU FEEL IS YOUR BEST CHANCE TO WIN? “I’m really excited for all of them. I think Gateway, last year we ran really well. Darlington, this year we won a stage and got caught up in a big wreck. Bristol can be a little bit of a wild card for us. We didn’t run great there last year, but I definitely feel confident going back there and Martinsville is going to be a wild one. It’s a cut off race, but I’ve won there before and then Phoenix is a lot like Gateway, so I feel really confident going there.”
HOW DO THE UPS-AND-DOWNS YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH MAKE YOU APPRECIATE HOW WELL THINGS ARE GOING NOW? “It’s crazy. When I came into the Truck Series I expected to win and when we didn’t it really took the fun out of it and the pressure was just crazy on me at the time. It probably shouldn’t have been, but I made it worse than it was, and that’s the biggest thing. This year racing we’ve just been having a lot of fun and that’s been so refreshing to me and my whole team. I really feel like we’ve had a great group of guys, but this year bringing the fun back into it and having a great time at the racetrack is ultimately what it’s all about.”
IT’S ALLOWED YOU TO RELAX AND BE BETTER IN THE SEAT AND EVERY OTHER FACET OR NOT? “Absolutely. I think just the team beyond my actual team, the pit crew has done a great job for us the last two years, but this year especially. Just knowing you don’t have to take that extra chance to get past someone on the last lap because you know your pit crew is gonna pick up a spot or two every time you come down pit road. That takes a little bit of pressure off. Knowing that my crew chief is gonna understand what I’m saying and make the right adjustments for the next run that you also don’t have to make a dumb move the run before. All the little things take an ounce of pressure off and then soon everything is just clicking right. It’s been a lot of fun too just to be a part of the growing of the Front Row Motorsports truck team and bringing the fun into it.”
CAN YOUR STRONG ROAD COURSE PERFORMANCES THIS YEAR EXTEND INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “Yeah, I think we’ve been really good at the weird racetracks this year. When we went to the road courses we ran really well. The dirt tracks we ran really well, so it’s been fun. Really, the Truck Series schedule has been hard to get a good flow or read on how you are because you’re going to dirt one weekend, road course and then you might have one or two mile-and-a-halves scattered through there, but I think that’s been great that we’ve been good at those places. I definitely think our mile-and-a-half program has gotten head and shoulders better from the beginning of the year. We had a couple rough runs there at Atlanta and Vegas, so just to turn that around was huge, but I think we’ll be in a much better place at the asphalt and more cookie-cutter, normal racetracks also.”
HOW IS IT TO YOU TO LOOK AT THE PROGRESSION YOU’VE MADE AS A DRIVER? “I think you always have to look back and really appreciate how far you’ve come. I definitely can see that in myself. I’ve made a lot of just weird mistakes, like going in the K&N Series you don’t have live pit stops, where in the Truck Series you can make it past the first pit stop, let your team work on it. If you don’t, you never really know how good that race you could have been because you don’t give them a chance to work on the truck, so I think I’ve become a lot more patient as we’ve gotten our trucks better. That allows a driver to be more under control driving the truck, so that’s helped a lot and I’ve definitely grown a lot as a driver.”
