FANTASY NASCAR Racin

DAVID GILLILAND - 4/1/1976 -
In 2023, it was out with the old, in with the new. David Gilliland Racing ushered in a new era, rebranding its name to TRICON Garage and shifting from Ford to Toyota as the team’s primary manufacturer. TRICON Garage will have a brand new look and refocused energy in pursuit of its first Truck Series championship. For the team, many of the operations will remain the same, spearheaded by longtime owner David Gilliland and David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development (TRD). Gilliland has owned and operated the team since 2018, making strides in the Truck Series as well as the ARCA Menards Series and employing race-winning drivers like Ryan Preece, his son Todd and more. Serving as a Ford Performance staple in recent years, the move to TRD has created a new burst of energy in the garage. The opportunity to swap to the Toyota brand came at the end of 2022, when Kyle Busch swapped his truck team from running Toyotas to run Chevrolets in 2023. The move came as a result of Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing parting ways in the Cup series; when Busch had driven a Toyota for many years. Now, Busch was going to drive a Chevy for Richard Childress; so he swapped his trucks to Chevys also. For 2023, TRICON plans to field three full time

truck entries; led by brothers Tanner and Taylor Gray who have had ties to the organization for the past few years. Tanner, the elder at 23 years old, is in his third full-time season racing for Gilliland after debuting in 2020. Taylor, a 17-year-old rising star, has raced in a part-time capacity but will make the full-time leap next season — despite missing the first three races of next season’s Truck Series schedule due to age restrictions. Taylor’s first race in will come at Circuit of The Americas. “It’s exciting, obviously,” Tanner said in an interview when asked about racing with his

younger brother. “We’ve got to race each other a little bit up until this point, but it’s always nice having him there. He’s younger than me, but you wouldn’t know it. He’s mature and he’s someone that I can go to and lean on for advice and kind of bounce ideas off. We’re also super competitive and we want to beat each other. Taylor has continued to impress on his way to the NASCAR national series scene, collecting three wins in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series season. TRICON’s move from Ford to Toyota also brings a roster change, confirming that Hailie Deegan will no longer be with the team after this season. 2022 was Deegan's second year with DGR, and has been a mainstay in their consistent two-driver lineup alongside Tanner. Corey Heim, a rising star in the Toyota Driver Development Program, slots in as the third full-time truck for the 2023 season. Deegan was a contracted Ford driver; so with the switch to Toyota that leaves Deegan on the outside looking in. All is not lost for Deegan however, as

she will go drive for powerhouse team ThorSport Racing. Heim slides over from Kyle Busch Motorsports after collecting a pair of wins, six top-five finishes and nine top 10s in 18 races. His impressive victories came this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. With a youthful roster and reinvigorated outlook, TRICON, Gilliland and Toyota are beginning to create a path to sustainable success. Running three full-time trucks — and entering the #1 truck on a part-time basis — there are many opportunities for the organization to thrive in the coming years. TRICON Garage ended up running four full time trucks in 2023. Brothers,

Tanner and Taylor Gray wheeled two of the trucks, while Corey Heim, and Dean Thompson drove the other two. A fifth truck was split among ten different drivers. Corey Heim had the most successful season as he had three wins, and looked to be the best truck in the Truck series championship race at Phoenix. He first won at Martinsville, and added wins at Mid-Ohio and Bristol. In the Championship race, he led 47 of the first 95 laps. Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar proved to be tough competition. Hocevar was also a contender for the Truck title. With about 30 laps to go Hocevar dove low going into turn one, and his truck pushed

up into Heim as the two battled for the lead. Both spun and saw their chances to win the championship go up in smoke. Just two laps from the end of the race, Heim wrecked Hocevar as pay-back for the previous crash. Eckes went on to win the race. Taylor Gray missed the first three races of 2023 due to age restrictions. But when he took to the track the Rookie was competitive. He did not claim a win, but he almost was the first to the checkers at Kansas where he finished second. He had three top five finishes and six top tens; the same as his brother Tanner. Tanner finished second in the season opening race at Daytona. The fourth truck was piloted by Dean Thompson. He posted two top fives runs, they were third place finishes at both Talladega and Charlotte. No one was able to win in TRICON’s fifth entry; but John Hunter Nemechek posted a third place run, Jesse Love had a fourth, and Bubba Wallace had a fifth. Heim, Thompson, Gray and Gray will be back in 2024.