Gilliland Scores Another Top-10 Finish at Homestead-Miami

Start: 18th (random drawing)
Finish: 6th

• Stage One: 6th
• Stage Two: 5th
• Stage Three: 6th

• Todd Gilliland started the 134-lap race at Homestead-Miami Speedway 18th based on a random drawing since there was no practice, or qualifying. He fought a loose Speedco Ford in the first stage. He was able to avoid a multi-truck accident on lap 20 and was sixth when Stage One ended on lap 30. He pitted for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment to give him more grip.
• Gilliland restarted 15th for the next 30-lap stage. He told crew chief Chris Lawson he was loose on exit, but ended the stage in fifth place. He pitted for four tires and a wedge adjustment.
• He started the final stage in third, but lost a few spots trying to avoid a slow truck ahead of him. He had fallen back to 11th by lap 80. The field began to cycle through green-flag pit stops and Gilliland brought the Speedco Ford to pit road on lap 97. A caution came on lap 103 before everyone had pitted, which trapped him one lap down. He was able to take the wave around and restarted ninth with 25 laps to go. A final caution with 11 laps remaining brought the leaders to pit road for the final time. The Front Row Motorsports team still had a set of sticker tires to put on Gilliland's truck and a fast stop helped him pick up four spots on pit road. He restarted sixth with seven laps to go and held that spot to finish the race.

Gilliland on Homestead: "I started 18th tonight and finished sixth and got caught a lap down at one time. I'm just really proud of this team for fighting back. This pit crew is really good, so definitely thank you to them for all the spots on pit road tonight. The truck was really loose a lot of the night with some weird transitions. I think we were on the splitter a little bit. We're just still working on it. New team, new set-ups that we don't have practice for, so I'm really proud of everyone. I think once we start getting practice we're going to be a lot better, so I'm looking forward to that day, but also still proud of the finishes we keep clicking off. Thank you to Speedco, Loves,Thank a Trucker and Ford. We're just happy to still be at the race track."

---