Fantasy NASCAR Racing

before Lawson would sit on the pit box again.  This time for owner Mike Curb and driver Todd Gilliland.  It was just four races; but the pair worked smoothly together as they had a best finish of second, and all four finishes in the top ten.  2017 saw the duo paired together for the full season, and they again ran well.  Gilliland would win four times, and have ten top five finishes, and 13 top tens. However that was only good enough for second place in the points, as he would lose out to Harrison Burton by eight points.  In 2018, David Gilliland founded David Gilliland Racing (DGR) and hired Lawson as his crew chief.  Tyler Dipple was put in the seat to drive.  The pair won one race that year, at Langley Speedway, and added six top five finishes. Again Lawson's driver finished second in the points standings.  2019 saw Lawson lead different drivers in a variety of race series, from K&N to ARCA to NASCAR Trucks.  Most of his time was in the Truck series with Anthony Alfredo.  They had a best finish of eighth at Charlotte. Todd Gilliland moved full time to the Truck Series in 2020, and drove for Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins.  Lawson was there to mentor the young driver along.  Although they didn't win a race; they did have four top five finishes and finished tenth in the points.  2021 saw improvement as Gilliland went to victory lane at the road course of COTA; had nine top five finishes and finished seventh in the points.  Chris Lawson and Zane Smith were paired together to produce a great season in 2022.  They kicked off the year winning at Daytona; and finished second the next race at Las Vegas.  But, they were disqualified and placed last in the finish order due to "lug nut issues".  At COTA the pair won again, and went to victory lane again five weeks later at Kansas.  This gave them three wins in the first five races.  In the middle and later parts of the season, they went winless but posted finishes in all those races inside the top 13, with eight top five finishes, including four where they finished second.  In the play-offs; things went smooth with their only finish outside the top ten being at Talladega in the Round of Eight.  And even there they finished 17th, in the lead pack.  The other two races in that round they finished second. So as they moved to Phoenix, they were one of the favorites to claim the Championship.  With Smith having been second the previous two season; they wanted to put a stamp on 2022 and claim that trophy.  Smith led 77 laps in the Championship race and went on to claim the victory and the Championship.  For the year they had four wins, 14 top five and 19 top ten finishes.  They completed all but six laps ran in the 2022 season.  Smith would return to the Truck series in 2023 with Lawson as the lead wrench.  They kicked off the season with a win at Daytona.  They followed that with a second at Las Vegas the next week.  Another win came two weeks later at COTA.  Martinsville and Kansas saw back-to-back third place finishes, and a month later they claimed back-to-back second place finishes at Nashville and Mid-Ohio.  Bad finishes in the Round of 8 saw them eliminated from the Chase for the championship.  At Phoenix as the season closed, Smith was leading with two laps to go when Corey Heim intentionally wrecked Carson Hocevar.  This sent the race to over time, and a series of yellows followed.  Smith was involved in one of them on lap 171 and knocked out of the race.  Lawson also led Todd Gilliland for one race in the Cup series.  It came at Talladega where they started 28th and pulled off a tenth place finish. Zane Smith will move to the Cup series in 2024; while Lawson will remain with the #38 in the Truck series.  Lawson had his first full season atop a Cup series pit box in 2024.  He moved from Front Row Racing to work for Rick Ware Racing and driver Justin Haley.  Haley had his worst season since 2021.  He didn't have any top five finishes, and only three top tens.  Most races he ran in the high 20's to low 30 finish positions.  He did have a 17th place run at Bristol, and an 18th at Kansas.  His first top ten finish came when he finished eighth in the Spring race at Darlington.  Two weeks later he finished ninth again when the Cup cars traveled to St Louis.  It was announced mid-season that Haley would leave RWR at the end of the season to go drive for Spire Motorsports; a team he drove for most of the time in 2021.  It was rumored that Corey Lajoie would take Haley's spot at RWR.  So with seven races to go in the 2024 season, the teams agreed to go ahead and swap drivers early.  In the few races LaJoie ran under Lawson, results were mixed.  Together they had three finishes inside the top 20, and three finishes of 35th or worse.  For 2025 Lawson will be on the move, going back to Front Row Racing to lead the #34 of Todd Gilliland in the Cup series.