Gilliland Finishes Seventh at Darlington & Remains 10th in Points

Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Black's Tire Ford F-150
Start: 15th (based on qualifying formula)
Finish: 7th

• Stage One: 11th
• Stage Two: 9th
• Stage Three: 7th

• Todd Gilliland started 15th at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Sunday afternoon in the No. 38 Black's Tire Ford F-150. This was his first race at the track known as "too tough to tame" with no practice, or qualifying. He stayed out during the competition caution on lap 20 and was 13th when the race resumed. He finished Stage One in 11th on lap 45 and pitted for fresh tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment to help the handling.

• When the second stage began, Gilliland restarted 12th and was up to 10th within a few laps. He remained 10th at the halfway mark of the race and moved up to ninth before Stage Two ended on lap 90. He told crew chief, Chris Lawson, he needed more rear grip. He pitted and returned to the track in 17th place.

• When the final stage began, Gilliland worked his way up to 13th on the first lap following the restart. He was 11th when a caution came on lap 123 and the Front Row Motorsports team opted to pit for four tires. With a fast stop, Gilliland picked up four spots on pit road and was seventh when the race resumed. The final caution of the race came with two laps remaining, which meant there would be a NASCAR overtime. The leaders pitted, but Gilliland and the other drivers he is racing for points chose to stay out on the track. This moved him up to fourth for the two-lap shootout. He was shuffled back to seventh on the restart, which is where he finished the race.

• With one race remaining to determine the 10 drivers in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series playoffs, Gilliland remains 10th in the final spot on the bubble. He is 10 points above 11th place and only four points behind ninth. The final regular-season race will be Thursday night at 8 pm ET from Richmond Raceway.

​Gilliland on Darlington: "I'm happy we are on the plus side of the cut line at least. We pretty much have 10 spots to give up to the 19 (Derek Kraus) and I really believe we can outrun them and even contend for a win at Richmond. We're really confident in what we've got going there. This was not the race we really wanted today. We just started on the splitter insanely hard. We'd be okay on the long run, but just give up so much. It wasn't the day we wanted, but we really didn't lose massive points to the cut line and we've got one more race to make it all happen.

"I have to thank Ricky Benton and Black's Tire, Front Row Motorsports, Ford and all our sponsors throughout the season. We're going to give it our all at Richmond and hopefully go run for a championship."