NASCAR Truck Series: How will Todd Gilliland race Noah Gragson?

How will Todd Gilliland race teammate Noah Gragson throughout the rest of the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs after their run-in on Sunday?

After the collision between Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Noah Gragson on the 65th and final lap of the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoff opener, the Chevrolet Silverado 250, at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, it would be easy to generate a long list of reasons why Gilliland should have fought Gragson afterward despite the fact that he stated that he could not do so.

After all, Gragson ruined Gilliland’s chance at securing his first career Truck Series victory in this particular race, and he ruined what would have been a 1-2 finish for his team. Not even he benefited from spinning out his teammate, as he finished in ninth place in his #18 Toyota as opposed to second while Gilliland finished two positions behind him in 11th in his #4 Toyota as opposed to first (or second). The whole sequence of events was a disaster for both drivers.

But at the end of the day, these two drivers fighting would be a waste of time on many levels. From a racing perspective, it changes absolutely nothing about the results of the race, and the race is the only reason why the drivers show up to the track. It sounds cliché, but violence would not have been the answer in this case.

However, that doesn’t mean payback on the track itself is out of the picture. An incident like this simply cannot take place without it being followed by the talk of payback potentially being an option in an upcoming race.

But with Gilliland, who isn’t in the playoffs, and Gragson, who is, being teammates, will the 18-year-old rookie risk his good standing with Kyle Busch Motorsports by going out of his way to take the team’s lone championship contender out of championship contention just to get back at him for their incident in Canada?

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Kyle Busch Motorsports team owner Kyle Busch is all for hard racing, as he made that quite clear following his duel with Kyle Larson on the final lap of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway at the beginning of July. He told the crowd that “if you don’t like that kind of racing, don’t even watch.”

Well, “that kind of racing” turned into a disaster for two of his drivers in the final turn on the final lap of the opening race of the Truck Series playoffs, so he obviously wasn’t too thrilled, and no one can blame him. That said, it was still hard racing, not dirty racing.

But while this doesn’t mean that Gilliland and Gragson won’t be allowed to race each other hard even with Gilliland not being in the playoffs while Gragson is, especially if another race victory is on the line, it does mean that Gilliland intentionally getting payback on Gragson for Gragson ruining his race in Canada will not only damage Gragson’s championship hopes but Gilliland’s future within Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Hard racing is much different than intentionally wrecking, and when it comes to intentionally wrecking a teammate to take him out of championship contention, that makes it much, much worse.

Gragson was going for the race win, five additional playoff points and an automatic berth into the round of 6 at the playoffs, and he was doing it at the expense of his teammate’s first career Truck Series victory. He would have done the same thing if it would have been at the expense of his teammate’s 24th or 124th career victory. No one can blame him for trying to win the race, just like no one can blame Gilliland for trying to hold him off.

With Gilliland not having a chance to win this season’s championship, him getting back at the 20-year-old at this point wouldn’t be for anything more than payback, so it is hard to picture him putting his own career on the line to ruin one of Gragson’s races and perhaps his championship hopes just to get back at him for ruining one of his.

Gilliland will likely have several more opportunities to win Truck Series races assuming he continues driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. The fact that Gragson ruined his chance to earn his first career victory in this particular race in Canada certainly stings and has justifiably infuriated him.

However, don’t expect Gilliland to react in a way that will put his career in jeopardy just because of this sting, which was naturally magnified because of the fact that it was his first career victory that he was just one turn away from earning before he was spun out.

How far will Noah Gragson advance in the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series championship? Will the fact that Todd Gilliland is set to race against him throughout the rest of the season affect his championship outcome in any way, or will Gilliland race him clean?