Fantasy NASCAR Racing

and finished fifth in the points.  Hillman split time between owners Turner and Joe Falk.  He got his first experience in the Cup Series with Falk, as he worked with five different for a total of 13 starts.  None of them were able to post a finish in the Top 10.  He worked with six different drivers in the Truck Series, with Taylor Malsam getting eleven starts.  Malsam had three Top 5 finishes; and as a group they had six Top 5’s.  He moved to the Xfinity series full time in 2015 working for driver Brian Scott and owner Richard Childress.  They had six Top 5 finishes and ended up eighth in points.  2016 saw Brandon Jones with Hillman, but this arrangement didn’t provide much success.  Jones did have eleven Top 10’s on the season and finished tenth in points.  2017 saw Hillman go to Brad Keselowski Racing and lead Chase Briscoe.  They were together for 15 races and had five Top 5 and eight Top 10 results.  He went top Kyle Busch after that to finish out the last four races of the season.  Harrison Burton provided a fourth place finish, while Todd Gilliland provided a seventh.  Hillman remained with KBM and worked with no less than eight different drivers.  Kyle Busch drove three races, and claimed two wins.  Harrison Burton, David Gilliland, and Brandon Jones had a combined six Top 5 finishes.  The next three season Hillman was full time with just one driver per season.  2019 saw Burton drive the #18 and had seven Top 5’s; three times he finished third. Burton moved up to the Xfinity series in 2020 and Raphael Lessard was brought in to pilot the KBM machine.  Lessard was able to pull off a win at Talladega.  Even with a win in 2020; Lessard was let go.  Meanwhile Hillman was on the move again as he was hired by David Gilliland to mentor young female rook driver Hailie Deegan for the 2021 season.  She performed will in many races, and finished the first 17 races she ran, getting some valuable seat time.  She crashed out three races in a row; all of them was bad luck as she got caught up in other driver’s messes.  She posted a season best finish of seventh, coming at gateway.  The duo was paired together in 2022, looking for improvement.  Deegan and Hillman went into 2022 with high hopes. 2021 had been her first full time season, and things had went fairly well considering her lack of experience and the black cloud that seemed to hover over her all season.  But, 2022 seemed to be a step backwards.  She crashed in four of the years first seven races; all incidents were of someone else's making, that she happened to get caught up in. The three races she finished inside the top 20.  The season progressed pretty much that way; and she had a best finish of tenth on the road course at Mid-Ohio.  With seven races to go a decision was made to swap the crew chiefs. Jerry Baxter was brought over to call the shots for Deegan, and Hillman went to her team mate Tanner Gray.  In the final seven races Deegan posted her best results of the year.  She had four finishes 17th or better, including a sixth at Talladega.  Several major changes happened in the Truck series after the 2022 season that had a trickle down effect. Kyle Busch had been driving a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup series; so he also ran Toyota's in the Truck Series.  He went to drive a Chevy for Richard Childress in 2023; and swapped his truck chassis to the Chevy make also.  This left some open availability for teams to fill the Toyota void; and the team Deegan and Gray drove for was one of those teams.  Gray would wheel a Toyota in 2023 while Hillman called the shots.  Deegan; was been hired to drive for ThorSport Racing as they switch from Toyota to Fords. Turns out, Hillman worked with several drivers who would pilot the #41 truck in 2023.  Bayley Currey would make the most starts, sitting at the controls for eleven starts.  Currey’s best finish came at Atlanta when he finished fourth.  He also finished fifth at Nashville and Homestead.  They had eight finishes inside the top 20.  Ross Chastain made seven starts.  He added two fifth place finishes, coming at COTA and Kansas.  None of the other drivers were able to post a top ten finish.  Hillman also filled in for one race in the Xfinity series when he led the efforts of Jeffery Earnhardt at Daytona.  They had a good run and finished eleventh.  As of the end of 2023, Hillman has spent most of his career in the Truck series.  His drivers have made 391 starts and gotten 23 wins.  19 of those with Todd Bodine.  They also won the Truck championship together in 2006 and 2010.