McDowell and Love's Travel Stops Team Back in Top-10
Gilliland Hosts Ruedebusch Development and Construction. Finishes 25th
We all hope you had a happy July 4th.
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) celebrated with thousands of fans in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin over the weekend at Road America. The scenic road course hosted the NASCAR Cup Series event that featured Michael McDowell and the Love's Travel Stops team compete for the win all day on Sunday.
McDowell started sixth, raced in the top-five, and ended the day eighth.
Todd Gilliland helped Ruedebusch Development and Construction celebrate at their home track. Gilliland hosted the family business and their friends. He finished 25th.
Gilliland had strong support at the track. Ruedebusch Development and Construction, headquartered in Wisconsin, had family and friends at the track. Gilliland hosted them on both Saturday and Sunday and wanted to show them a good finish.
The NASCAR Cup Series rookie did that by finishing 25th. Gilliland had a pit road speeding penalty that forced him to start the final stage at the tail of the field. He raced through the back of the field to maximize his day in the final laps.
"The folks from Ruedebusch have been awesome to us all season. I want to thank them for coming out.
"We wanted to be better. Our car could have been better and I can't make that penalty. We know we can be finishing much higher. We are going to keep working hard to make that happen."
The time has now come for McDowell and the No. 34 Love's Travel Stops team to be disappointed not to finish in the top-five at a road course event. The team has been strong over the past few months and Sunday was their seventh top-10 of the season.
McDowell raced easily in the top-five in both stages before racing up to eighth after his final pit stop. A continued career-best season for McDowell, he is focused on winning.
“It was a solid effort, but not what we hoped for. We seemed to lose the rear tires a bit too much as the run went on, and as we tried to dial rear grip into it, we just lost a little bit of turn. We didn’t quite have the speed we needed to run up in the top-five and challenge at the end. We kind of slid back a little bit. All-in-all, it was a solid day and we executed well.
"It is nice to be disappointed with an eighth-place finish. But our expectations have gone up and we want to challenge for wins. We just needed a bit more. I probably need to be a bit more aggressive in practice of trying things. But that limited practice, I am so afraid of dialing us out. We just have a little more to gain. I think we will be in the right direction for the Glen and we have been fast on the ovals, too. It should be a good month for us coming up. We will take a top-10 and build on it, but ultimately it is not what we hoped for.”
The FRM NASCAR Cup Series teams head back to the Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend. The FRM NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team will race Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS
Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Camping World Truck Series and the 2021 Daytona 500 champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team– from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.
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TEAM CONTACTS:
Michael McDowell
John Dragonetti
E-mail: jdragonetti@frontrowmotorsports.com
Mobile: 704-578-9937
Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith
Chris Murdock
Mobile: 740-861-4534
E-Mail: cmurdock@frontrowmotorsports.com