Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Chicago Street Race Media Availability
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Todd Gilliland, driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, finished seventh in last season’s Chicago Street Race. As the series heads back to the Windy City this weekend, Gilliland spoke about the street course and his hopes for Sunday afternoon.
TODD GILLILAND, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHERE DO YOU STAND IN TERMS OF GOING BACK TO CHICAGO. DO YOU WANT TO SEE A DRY WEEKEND? “First off, I’m excited to go back to Chicago. It’s definitely a really fun place, a fun city to hang out and all that. I’m looking forward to going back there. Myself, I don’t necessarily mind the rain. We’ve ran well there in the past there, but on the flip side of it I’m ready for Chicago to have a weekend go as planned and hope the fans can experience all of that fun stuff behind the scenes. I think the whole experience would be much smoother without rain and I’m hoping that for the fans for sure.”
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO LOOK BACK ON THE INCIDENT WITH HAMLIN? “Yeah. I’ve watched the replay of that probably 100 times. I really don’t know. I feel like the 11 had the 42 jacked up and the 42 was pushing the guy in front of him. There was literally eight of us in the train. Obviously, looking back now knowing they wrecked, I should have had a bigger gap. That’s on me to look out for those guys, but they were all tight in front of them. I think he got the 42 sideways and that kind of slowed them down a little bit and then I got to their bumper, slowed down, and then I was getting pushed as well. I don’t know. To me, I hate that I was part of it. I definitely contributed to it, but on the flip side of it, it definitely seemed like maybe more of a racing deal.”
HOW DOES THAT RACE CARRY OVER TO THIS WEEKEND? “I don’t necessarily think much carries over, except the racing was great and that’s something we can expect both weekends. I’m excited about it. I think what Atlanta has turned into has been really, really fun. I’ve enjoyed it the whole time. It’s definitely aging more. The gap between cars is getting bigger. Handling is gonna start to matter more. I’m excited about that and then going to Chicago is another big weekend for NASCAR as a whole.”
WILL THIS BE AN AGGRESSIVE RACE IN CHICAGO? “I think Chicago is probably the biggest risk vs. reward racetrack that we go to because being aggressive doesn’t really pay off there. Whether it’s getting as close as you can to the apexes, which are all walls, using up all the exit room, but on the flip side of it the risk of it is massive because you’re not gonna run off and get stuck in gravel or hit a curb. You’re gonna hit a wall or a tire barrier, so it’s definitely about managing all that stuff. There’s a time and a place to put it all on the line, but you have to finish the race. The toe links and suspension and all that stuff has to be intact, so that’s the main goal and definitely balancing aggression is big.”
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO IMPROVE YOUR ROAD RACING SKILL SET? “For me, I don’t know. I think it’s just been more so race experience. I never grew up go-karting or anything like that. I’ve always ran ovals my whole life. I remember my first road course race in the K&N Series not too long ago, but on the other side of it, since I’ve been in the Cup Series I’ve had a couple of go-karts and been out to the go-kart track a little bit. At the same time, it’s not necessarily the same. I’ve run a ton of laps on the simulator. I think that is probably the biggest thing that I focused on. I feel like just about every driver at the Cup Series level, after three laps at a road course, you’re gonna be fairly close and in the ballpark. For me, just one thing I’ve tried to focus on and be as good as I can at is that first lap. Having a good idea of brake markers, running so many laps on the sim that you know the course like the back of your hand. Stuff like that. The field evens out very, very quickly, but that’s what I’ve been working on myself is hitting the track and being at my best right away.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY EXTRA FILM STUDY YOU DO GOING BACK TO CHICAGO FOR THE THIRD TIME? “To me, line-wise Chicago is pretty self explanatory because it’s a lot of 90-degree corners. You want to be as far out on entry, you get to the apex as late as you can and then get a straight shot down the next straightaway to most likely another 90-degree corner. Like I said, line-wise it’s not that hard, but a different technique and stuff that we see at a street course with the roughness, the braking and the apex. Like I said, how you angle into them and all that stuff. We’re looking at all of it, for sure.”
THIS IS THE LAST YEAR OF THE DEAL TO RACE IN CHICAGO. THERE HAS BEEN TALK OF OTHER CITIES, BUT WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE NASCAR TAKE A STREET RACE TO? “That’s a tough one. All of the talks are interesting. I think it’s fun to go to different places. I don’t think we could even get close to L.A. with the traffic that we had when we went to the Coliseum. We had to close down a lot of streets for that. I think New York City would be sick. Obviously, you have the views and the feel of that city is obviously massive, so that would be my pick.”
HOW HAS IT BEEN AS THE MOST EXPERIENCED DRIVER AT FRONT ROW THIS YEAR? “Yeah, I think there’s always constant evolution of us as people and our roles. It’s definitely switched a lot with Michael leaving. He was here for a long time and built a lot of great relationships. For me, it’s about getting relationships deeper with the guys here and them trusting me, me trusting them. Just going above and beyond in a lot of different ways. That’s what Michael did for a long time and that definitely helped him out. I definitely trust my teammates a lot. I think Noah and Zane are great. It’s a different atmosphere here, I would say, than year’s past, just a younger feel of energy of everyone, but I definitely think we’ve all been good leaders this year. Being here the longest, it’s definitely been a fun role.”
SONOMA FOLLOWS CHICAGO, WHERE YOU ALSO HAD A TOP 10 LAST YEAR. WHERE WOULD YOU RATE YOUR ROAD COURSE SKILLS VERSUS OTHER STYLES OF TRACKS AND DO YOU CONSIDER ROAD COURSES YOUR BEST CHANCE AT A WIN? “I think to kind of balance or rank where I feel like we could go out and, at this point of the year, and get a win, I feel like Atlanta would have been a strong one for us. Superspeedways are the highest. Maybe short tracks as number two. Road courses and then probably intermediates, so I definitely feel strong anywhere. I thought we looked really, really strong in practice at Mexico City. We had a strong qualifying effort there, but just didn’t race really well. I think we have really good speed, but I think that’s what separates average guys on road courses to really good guys is having that speed right away, which I feel like I have now. But making it last over the course of a run and being smart with your tires and all that stuff. I still think we have a little bit of room to go to have race-winning speed at a road course, but I definitely think we’re getting closer, especially with our results last year. It definitely seems like we’re pretty close.”
DOVER IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY IS DIFFERENT FROM WHERE IT’S BEEN IN THE PAST. HOW DO YOU THINK A RACE AT THAT TIME OF THE YEAR WILL LOOK? “I don’t think I’ve ever finished a Cup race better than probably 35th at Dover, to be honest with you. I’ve wrecked a lot there, so I’m hoping the track is completely different and it doesn’t even feel like the same place I’ve been at. That’s the goal, hopefully. Like you said, the temperature will definitely make a big difference. Dover is extremely fast. It’s not necessarily rough, but just all the seams in the concrete make it feel kind of rougher, so it’s a fun area. It’s usually earlier in the year and we generally struggle a little bit with the rain here and there, but hopefully it’s beautiful weather and the track widens out a little bit with warmer temperatures.”
IS THIS WEEKEND IN ESSENCE A GAME OF CHICKEN AS OPPOSED TO OTHER TRACKS AS FAR AS GETTING UNDERNEATH PEOPLE AND MAYBE MOVING THEM UP? “I think a little bit of it is that’s the way it is in this series, but I just think it’s the results of your actions. Here, you’re not gonna get away with it. If you go in there side-by-side, even if you’re the guy trying to make a pass and you make a mistake going into a 90-degree corner, if you lock up the inside tire, you could easily stuff yourself and the guy you’re trying to pass in the tire barrier. You just really, really have to balance it – risk versus reward. It’s definitely a tougher place to pass. There are obviously a lot of really good braking zones, but it’s almost like playing a game of chicken with yourself. I feel like as a driver you have a good idea of where the grip is at and the balance and what you’re able to do, whether it’s braking or taking the corner or whatever, but you definitely have to push yourself right to that limit, if not past, to make a pass. It’s definitely not the most comfortable, but it’s risk versus reward to the max at Chicago.”
YOU WILL BE PITTING THE OPPOSITE WAY THIS WEEKEND. WHAT IS THAT LIKE? “I would say, in general, the biggest issue people see is guys turning into the pit boxes too early because also at a lot of these places the pit boxes aren’t real big. I don’t know if it’s a NASCAR thing. When they’re on the left side, they’re more normal for our size of cars, where like at COTA the pit boxes are very small and then Chicago, I don’t remember them to be very big, so you turn in and kind of clip that fourth box. That’s a penalty, whether in or out. Another random thing about the right side pit road is usually they give me a water bottle, tear off, every pit stop because my window is right there and they can give me a water bottle while they’re changing the right side tires, come around and then the guy is out of the way, whereas at Chicago my interior guy would have to run all the way around the car and kind of be in the way and it just wouldn’t work out, so I have to do a little bit different setup on the water bottle and all that stuff. Then at Chicago specifically it’s pretty tight around that last corner to actually get into pit road, so you just have to be smart about making sure that if you’re gonna pit, you get to pit road and then also the pit road light was a little tough to see last year, so all of those things. It’s easy to make mistakes. You have to be on top of your game.”
WHAT DO YOU DO TO GET A WATER BOTTLE THEN? “I just have to pack all of my water, like a big water bottle. I think some guys do this week to week, but almost like a camelback type of water bottle system with just a long hose. For me, I just like it really cold with ice and water, so I’m kind of out of luck on that by the end of the race, but you just pack as much ice in there and as much water as you can and you’re stuck with just that.”
WHAT ABOUT YOUR FLAME PICKLE CAR YOU JUST REVEALED WHERE YOU’RE BURNING PICKLES WITH A BUTANE TORCH? “I haven’t even seen that, to be honest (the video). I’ve seen it at the shop and know what it looks like, but it’s a big weekend for Grillo’s. It’s fun to have them on the car and away from our normal paint scheme. The fire car and big display of a bunch of stuff in Chicago, so it’ll be a big weekend for them and I’m excited to have them on.”
