RTA gigFAST Blasts Smith to Top-Five in Truck Race

Fr8Auctions.com Powers McDowell to Top-10 in 600

Boot Barn Rides with Gilliland to 16th in NASCAR's Longest Race

---

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) had another action-packed weekend that featured a two-day open house at its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters, driver appearances with fans and partners, hosting and honoring military family members, and a thrilling 600-mile NASCAR Cup Series race highlighted by Michael McDowell and the Fr8Auctions.com team finishing eighth.

FRM hosted a fan open house leading into the weekend. After two years of limited fan activity, doors were open for people who traveled to Mooresville, known commonly as Race City USA. Fans were treated to a free Boot Barn hat, Georgia Peanuts, the opportunity to view the race shop, shop for gear, visit the drivers and more.

"It was great to see the fans come to the shop after a long time of not having that happen," said Gilliland. "We didn't go all out like some other teams, but I know we have more ideas for the fall Charlotte race to host fans again. It's just a fun way to engage with the people in town and it gets us excited for the race weekend."

Friday evening, all the attention turned to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the 19th annual N.C. Education Lottery 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The No. 38 RTA gigFAST/Michael Robert Construction (MRC) Ford F-150 team led by Zane Smith stole the show early and often.

Winning best scheme, by FRM's own vote, was the red, white and blue "Got Freedom? Thank a Soldier!" scheme. The truck was not only the most patriotic, but was also as fast as the RTA gigFAST internet on the truck.

Smith was best in practice, second in qualifying and led the first stage to collect another playoff point. The team ended the second stage in sixth and finished fifth at the end of the night after battling for the win in an overtime finish. Smith led 52 laps and gained a race best 47 points. The team jumped to third in the championship standings.

"It's so cool to see the support that RTA gives to this team," said Smith. "Before the race, they had a huge crowd at the truck and in the pits. We were fast in the first stage, but we got tight as the night went along. Everyone on the team did their job to put us back in position to win on the last restart. We needed to be a little bit better at the end to win it. It's good to be back in the top-five, collecting points, and we're all looking forward to St. Louis this weekend."

Saturday and Sunday featured action for the NASCAR Cup Series and drivers Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland. But first, both drivers took time to honor military families who had their own family pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. McDowell and Gilliland gave their respective family a signed flag and thanked them.

"Memorial Day and this race is about honoring our heroes," said McDowell. "It's so cool that we can host the families, get our partners involved, and spend face-to-face time to hear their stories. We want to help them remember their family members and just say 'thanks'. It's really special."

Gilliland was humbled to showcase his patriotic Boot Barn Ford Mustang, and also excited to have Boot Barn back on the No. 38. Gilliland and Smith spent time meeting fans at the Boot Barn in Concord, N.C. on Saturday before racing his first 600-mile classic on Sunday night.

For Gilliland, it was a night of survival that ended with an impressive 16th-place finish. Gilliland was on the Lead Lap for over 400 miles before getting damage on Lap 347 in a multi-car accident. Gilliland was closing in the top-15 at the time and racing for rookie of the race.

The damage did not end the team's night. Instead, they made repairs and Gilliland was back on the track and in the top-20. He then raced back to finish 16th and only missed one lap to the leaders in what was NASCAR's longest race after ending in overtime.

"Wow, what a weekend and night," said Gilliland. "I think we had a top-15 car before the damage. Our Boot Barn Ford was getting faster and I had a lot of fun moving up through the field.

"It was just a fun weekend. We saw a lot fans at Speed Street, at Boot Barn, the tweet up, and hosting the military family. It was a great experience and we were fast. I hate that we clipped the 99, but we still came back strong."

The veteran leader, Michael McDowell once again performed at his best Sunday evening. Overcoming frontend damage from an accident on Lap 193, McDowell raced his camo-schemed Fr8Auctions.com Ford to the front and had a chance to win in the overtime finish.

McDowell spent time talking to fans at the Speed Street stage on Sunday after qualifying 10th on Saturday- the team's best start since the Daytona 500. McDowell told fans the Fr8Auctions.com Ford was fast and he just needed to be in position in the end. He was.

After the accident, the team made adjustments and McDowell clicked off positions from 20th, to 19th, 18th, 17th, and all the way into the top-15 heading into the final 100 laps of the race. The car was at its best under the lights.

McDowell did a masterful job to avoid wrecks in the final stage and restarted sixth for an overtime finish. He finished eighth and earned his fifth top-10 of the season. That ties his career-best, but McDowell knows there is a lot more.

“We had a really fast Fr8 Auctions.com Ford Mustang, said McDowell. "Unfortunately, we got too much damage in that wreck, that big pile up when the 6 spun with somebody. That kind of took a little speed out of our race car, but we did a good job working really hard trying to get the balance back. Then a lot of attrition there at the end. It was a wild race and we got ourselves in position there. I’m proud of everybody. It’s another top-10. We keep clicking them off. We had good speed. We qualified in the top-10 and finished in the top-10 today, so it’s good. It’s good to be disappointed with that. I thought we had a top-five coming to the checkered there and got all stacked up there four-wide and got in the fence a little bit, but we’ll take a top-10 and move on to Gateway.”

---

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.

-30- 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