FANTASY NASCAR Racin

DAVID GILLILAND - 4/1/1976 -
David Gilliland Racing was founded in 2017, and as far as NASCAR, has only fielded vehicles in the Truck Series (as of 2023). They ran their first races in 2018 fielding two trucks with several different drivers. The first race saw Bo LeMastus wheel the #54 truck at Daytona. He would crash out and finish 30th. At Martinsville, driver Kyle Benjamin would claim the teams first top five finish, as he almost pulled off the win after leading 74 laps; finishing second to John Hunter Nemechek. David Gilliland himself would drive the truck to a fourth place finish the next week at Dover. Gilliland would finish fourth again at Iowa, and then Zane Smith finished fifth at Gateway. In all, eleven different drivers shared their two trucks; among them Tyler Ankrum, Riley Herbst and Justin Marks just to name a few. They managed to post five, top five finishes; and had seven top tens. They also ran seven ARCA events total; with five of those finishes being inside the top five. David Gilliland Racing and Crosley Sports Group, known as DGR-Crosley. DGR-Crosley fielded Toyotas in 2018 and 2019 before announcing its switch to Ford starting in 2020. 2019 was much the same as the organization continued to get their feet wet. Two drivers were hired to drive the trucks full time, as Tyler Ankrum and Natalie Decker ran at least

18 races each. A total of nine different drivers would pilot their race trucks this season. Decker would have a disappointing season as her best finish on the year came at Las Vegas where she finished 13th. She had only six top 20 finishes in 2019. Ankrum however, was the bright spot for the year. At Kentucky he drove to victory lane as he beat Stewart Friesen by seven second to get the organizations first ever win. He almost won the following week at Pocono as he was bested by Ross Chastain by just a few car lengths. On the year, he had three top five runs, and eight top tens. He finished eighth in series points. The third truck was shared by several drivers, but only Dylan Lupton was able to claim a top five finish among

them. The organization made 14 ARCA starts in 2019 among four drivers. Todd Gilliland would claim a win at Talladega in one of his two starts. Natalie Decker also made two starts and posted a sixth place finish at Daytona. Drew Dollar raced twice and finished in the top ten both times. Tanner Gray made the most starts (8) and had a best finish of fifth; but did finish in the top five times in his eight starts. After he strong runs in the ARCA races, Tanner Gray was brought in to drive the #15 truck full time in 2020. He posted four top five finishes on the year; three of them third place finishes. He also had eight top ten

finishes and finished 14th in the points. Hailie Deegan was hired to drive in the ARCA Series full time and ran 20 races. She had a great season as she had four top five finishes and 17 of her 20 starts she finished in the top ten. Her best finish was a second place; twice. Once on the high banks at Daytona as the season opened, and later on the dirt mile at Springfield IL. Brothers, Taylor and Tanner Gray split time in the teams second ARCA car. Tanner drove the car on the large tracks; when Taylor drove on the

smaller tracks because he wasn't old enough to drive the big tracks yet. Tanner made six starts, and posted two top five finishes, with a fourth at Phoenix. Young Taylor made 12 starts but finished in the top ten 11 times. His best runs came at Toldeo OH and Lebanon MO where he finished third. The team reverted to the David Gilliland Racing name in 2021 as Johnny Gray became a co-owner. 2021 saw the organization lean more heavily on racing in the Truck series. Most of their starts in the ARCA Series was only made so young Taylor could get more seat time while waiting to turn 18 to run more NASCAR races. Taylor would run nine ARCA races, and have six top five finishes. Hailie Deegan moved from the ARCA series to the Truck

Series in 2021. It proved to be a big step from ARCA to NASCAR for Deegan. After an impressive season in ARCA; she was only able to post one top ten finish in the Truck Series. Her best run came at Gateway where she finished seventh. She did show improvement the second half of the season as she got more seat time, and visited the tracks for a second time. Tanner Gray also raced a truck full time in 2021, but only posted one top five and two top ten finishes. Not a lot better than Deegan had done. Several different drivers drove a third team truck. Dirt track ace Donny Schatz ran the truck on the dirt at Knoxville. Kevin Harvick drove it on the dirt at Bristol for extra seat time before the Cup race. Ryan Preece ran two races in the

#17truck. He finished ninth at Pocono; but would claim the win when he raced at Nashville; interestingly enough beating Todd Gilliland, who was driving for Front Row Motorsports. 2022 would see Deegan and Tanner Gray back full time in the trucks. Hailie had one of those season's where it seemed everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. She only managed to put together two ten place finishes. Often, she would get caught up in someone else's accidents. Not being fast and being able to run up front with the better drivers had consequences. She finished sixth at Talladega and a tenth at Mid-Ohio. She was caught up in five crashes and had a pair of mechanical failures. Oddly enough she ran her first Xfinity series race and finished on the lead lap in 13th spot. Everyone expected she would be a back-marker and in the way; or

even crash out. But she seemed to open some eyes in how she handled the Xfinity car. Tanner Gray had a better season than the previous one. He ran in the lead pack a lot and had six top ten finishes. He posted a best result of fourth at Daytona. The third team truck again had various drivers. Taylor Gray ran eight races; where he was eligible to race. Ryan Preece had an impressive showing. He made ten starts; and have seven top five and nine top ten finishes. He got a win again at Nashville, and almost won at Pocono. Todd Gilliland would come to drive for his Dad one race. It would come at Knoxville on the dirt. Carson Hocevar led the first 65 laps before his motor expired. From there Gilliland took the lead and would lead 58 laps on the night. He would bypass John Hunter Nemechek with ten laps to go and get the win. Taylor Gray run full

time in the ARCA Series. He had a good season as he won three times, starting at Daytona. He won three of the first six races he ran. On two occasions he had engine failure, and was the only times he finished worse than eighth. He had ten top five finishes in 14 starts. Since he only ran 14 of the possible races, he finished tenth in points. Tragedy struck at DGR as the 2022 season was just getting started. On the way out to Phoenix Raceway, the race hauler carrying the ARCA Series car for Taylor Gray crashed early Tuesday with the driver tragically passing away. The Texas Highway Patrol preliminary investigation stated that the DGR hauler driven by Stotts “failed to control its speed”

and struck the Honda Passport in front of it, which was carrying a small box trailer. After the initial contact, both vehicles went into the center median. The hauler struck the concrete barrier and caught fire. Three days later on March 11, Gray won the General Tire 150 after starting second and leading 43 laps, dedicating the win to Stotts. At the end of the 2022 season; Gilliland switched to fielding Ford's to working with Toyota for it's race trucks. It also changed it's name to TRICON Garage (coverage continued there)