As a third-generation driver and son of former Cup competitor David Gilliland, Todd Gilliland skipped a rung on the ladder and moved straight from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to the Cup Series in 2022, much like Carson Hocevar, passing over the Xfinity Series.
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He had already made noise in ARCA, taking back-to-back titles in the ARCA West ranks in 2016 and 2017, and had picked up three wins in Trucks. As of now, in four seasons at the Cup level, he has yet to visit Victory Lane.
In many ways, his Truck results paved the way to Cup. Over his six seasons in Trucks, Gilliland split time between Kyle Busch Motorsports for three years, Front Row Motorsports for two, and even ran part-time (one race) for his father’s outfit. He grabbed one win with KBM during his first full season in 2019, but when it came to his bond with team owner Kyle Busch, the fit never seemed to click.
Looking back in a chat with Jeff Gluck during the 12 Questions segment, Gilliland remembered how it was. “When I was in Trucks at (Kyle Busch Motorsports), I definitely wish I had some moments back at the end of my time there. (Actually) kind of the whole time at KBM. It was obviously very exciting to go there and get a great opportunity, but I didn’t make the most of it.”
“I learned a ton of different lessons during that time period. I feel like if you do everything right there, you get to the next level, and then you still make some bad mistakes and learn other ways. So it’s hard to say. But I wish I would have handled things differently over the course of those two years,” he added.
But the whole situation with Gilliland happened because KBM was a successful Truck Series team. The team had stacked up 85 wins in Trucks and once notched 14 in a single season in 2014. It also locked up seven Owner’s Championships and helped mold champions like Erik Jones in 2015 and Christopher Bell in 2017. And with that bar set, anything short of trips to Victory Lane felt like coming up short.
So when Gilliland went winless until 2019, his final year with KBM, Busch did not hold back the criticism. With three races left in the season, Gilliland broke through and took the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway. After months of biting his tongue, he fired off over the radio, “Stay in your f**king motorhome.” It was a shot heard around the garage.
But he knew the situation was not to be handled that way. That’s why, in Victory Lane, Gilliland walked it back, calling it a heat-of-the-moment rush of emotion. He admitted Busch’s words had truth behind them and that he should have been running better. Still, in that instant, with support feeling thin, he let his temper fly. Gilliland later even posted a public apology to put the genie back in the bottle.
Last year, Gilliland conceded he might have played that hand differently. But at the same time, he also admitted that his stretch at Kyle Busch Motorsports in Trucks tested him more than anything else. Yet going through the fire can temper steel, and he believes those trials toughened him up, leaving him stronger and wiser as he keeps chasing that first Cup win.
