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. David Gilliland and his stable of TRICON Garage drivers, just keep improving year after year. Brothers Taylor and Tanner Gray drove full time, as did Corey Heim and Dean Thompson. Heim had the best season of everyone. He finished second at Daytona, just

getting beat by Nick Sanchez. The following week he ran third at Atlanta, and followed that with another third place run at Las Vegas. When the trucks traveled to Bristol he was again strong as he finished in sixth place. At COTA he was the class of the field, leading 31 of 46 laps and getting his first win of the year. At Kansas he was back in the winner's circle as he was again dominant leading 79 of 134 laps to get the win. Heim was back in the winners circle at North Wilkesboro. Heim won again the following week at Charlotte after leading 72 laps, but in post race inspection, the truck was found to have three loose lug nuts; which is

an automatic disqualification. At St Louis, Heim's team again showed their mettle as they led 65 laps and once again when the checkers flew, he was first across the line. At Pocono, Heim led 55 of 70 laps, again winning both stages, and once again saw himself go to victory lane. This gave the team four wins in the span of seven races. He easily advanced through the various rounds in the Chase to make it to the finals to race for the Championship. But, in the season ending race, no one could touch Ty Majeski as he was stout all night; leading 132 of 150 laps to claim the championship. Heim finished second. For the season he

posted six wins, 14 top five and 18 top ten finishes. Heim would be the only one to claim a win for the organization. But Taylor Gray had another pretty good season. Only thing missing was a win. He impressed with his strong runs all season. The season started poorly as he was involved in a wreck at Daytona and finished 16th. From there he ran off a string of top seven runs for the next six races; including a second place finish at COTA. Pocono saw the team run well again and finish fourth; and at Richmond he was strong and crossed the line in third. He made the play-offs and ran well in the Round of 8. But finishes of second, tenth and fourth failed to propel him into the final four and a shot to race for the Championship.

He finished sixth at Phoenix and finish sixth in the 2024 points. Tanner also had a pretty good season. Most times when you looked up; he was running right with his brother Taylor Gray. About the only time he finished outside the Top 20 was the two times he was involved in a crash. He posted five top ten finishes; and had 15 finishes inside the top 20. His best run came at Kansas where he finished sixth. Dean Thompson ran the other full time truck. Just moving up from the ARCA Series, there was a steep learning curve. He had his first top ten finish at Atlanta, and then a couple weeks later he was ninth at COTA. At Kansas he improved one more spot up to eighth. It would be his best finish of the year. He had five top ten runs on the season. William Sawalich also made ten starts for TRICON. His best finish was as 11th place run at Bristol. For 2025 TRICON Garage will have four full time trucks. Toni Breidinger will move up from ARCA to make her full time debut wheeling the #5 truck. Corey Heim, and Tanner Gray will be back, while Taylor Gray moves on to the Xfinity series. Gio Ruggiero will take over the wheel of the #17.