Sometimes, it’s better (and it pays) to be more lucky than good.
Todd Gilliland didn’t have the afternoon that he wanted (at all) in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, finishing a disappointing 24th, but, when he climbed from the No. 34 Grillo’s Pickles Ford Mustang Dark Horse, he had a million reasons to smile.
The Sherrills Ford, North Carolina-native became the story of the second-annual In-Season Challenge for the NASCAR Cup Series, much like Ty Dillon was in the bracket challenge’s inaugural running last season. This time, though, Cinderella’s glass slipper fit perfectly.
“It was a tough day for us, to be honest with you, the team as a whole. Yeah, I thought that was kind of our whole MO through this whole thing, we were barely scraping by, even today, right? It took a bit of bad luck clearly from the No. 12.”
Aside from a caution during a cycle of green-flag pit stops that left Gilliland at the front of the pack towards the end of Stage 2, the No. 34 hardly sniffed the top-20 all afternoon, and lacked speed compared to the drivers he typically races against on a week-to-week basis.
Ryan Blaney, his competition in the In-Season Challenge Final, was, for most of the event, 15 to 20 spots ahead of Gilliland. But, in order to finish first, you first must finish.
On the penultimate restart of the Brickyard 400, Blaney was running just outside the top-10, in the middle of the pack, when a lunge by John Hunter Nemechek into Turn 3 sent the No. 12 crashing into the outside wall. What looked like day-ending damage at first glance, was quickly triaged by his Team Penske crew, and Blaney was sent back on-track to hunt down Gilliland.
“My heart was pounding those last 25 laps. It was me, the No. 16 [Allmendinger], and the No. 12 [Blaney]. Yeah, still seemed like one slipup and I was going to be right in front of the No. 12, or right behind him, even coming down to the very end. I feel like we kind of earned it coming down the stretch.”
“The biggest thing for me that was really cool through this whole process was seeing how my team really elevated themselves, really grabbed another gear. They worked super, super hard, long hours for this week, just really ramped up throughout this whole in-season challenge. I think it’s cool. They unlocked another level within themselves.”
So, what will Todd Gilliland do with $1 million? Well, the better question might be what Front Row Motorsports is going to do with it, since Gilliland believes, the prize is technically going to go to the organization and not directly to him.
“I’ve not [thought about how I’m going to spend the money]. I think the $1 million goes to the team,” Gilliland said. “Yeah, I honestly don’t know how much I’m going to get. I definitely believe it’s going to be the biggest payday of my life, so far. Should be a lot of fun going into an off week. Definitely a great time to kind of unplug and get rejuvenated going forward.”
One thing we know for sure: a million dollars will buy a lot of Grillo’s Pickles.
