NASCAR: What to make of Todd Gilliland’s F-bomb at boss Kyle Busch

Todd Gilliland firing the F-bomb at NASCAR Truck Series boss Kyle Busch could have meant any of a number of things as it pertains to his NASCAR future.

When average employees have breakthroughs after years of struggling at their jobs, their response to a notable achievement typically isn’t directing the F-bomb at their boss.

At least, not for the whole world to hear.

With 45 career NASCAR Truck Series starts to his name entering Saturday’s round of 6 playoff race at Martinsville Speedway, the NASCAR Hall of Fame 200, Todd Gilliland was the longest tenured Kyle Busch Motorsports to have ever not been to victory lane.

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Earlier in the season, team owner Kyle Busch said that Gilliland and full-time teammate Harrison Burton “ain’t doing shit” in his team’s top-tier equipment.

By comparison, Busch won five races in five attempts this season, and Greg Biffle, who hadn’t competed in a NASCAR race since 2016 nor a Truck Series race since 2004, won in his lone start.

When the 19-year-old Gilliland took the checkered flag to win the 201-lap NASCAR Hall of Fame 200 around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Martinsville Speedway oval in Ridgeway, Virginia, he let his emotions get the best of him, telling Busch to “stay in his f—ing motorhome”.

What are the ramifications of such a remark?

In due time, we will know the answers. But for now, there are still several possibilities.

As Gilliland stated after the race, he let his emotions get the best of him, and he apologized to his boss for saying what he said.

Busch himself is an emotional person, and above all, in a NASCAR context, an emotional driver. He wants drivers who want to win, and he wants drivers who care about winning.

Maybe he will respect Gilliland for feeding off of that earlier motivation and finally getting the job done.

Then again, maybe he won’t.

You never want to bite the hand that feeds you.

That’s exactly what Gilliland did. While it can be awesome to prove somebody wrong through your own success, F-bombing your boss probably isn’t the best way to go about it.

Ok, it definitely isn’t the best way to go about it.

As I said in my initial response to Gilliland’s outburst, taking criticism and responding to criticism aren’t naturally one in the same depending on how that response is constructed.

In Gilliland’s case, you don’t need me to tell you about how it was constructed.

So what could it mean?

It could mean that Gilliland will be back with Kyle Busch Motorsports next season due to his passion. It could also mean that he will lose his job for next year as a result of his — whether you like Busch or not — blatant disrespect toward the man without whom he would not have driven the #4 Toyota to victory lane for the first time on Saturday afternoon.

Busch did come over to congratulate Gilliland after the race. Whether or not he had heard the 19-year-old Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native’s comments at the time remains unknown.

But what it could also mean is that Busch had already informed Gilliland that he will not be back with the team next year.

Even after Busch’s early criticism this season, Gilliland still failed to qualify for the playoffs, marking two consecutive seasons of failing to do so in top-tier Truck Series equipment, although last season he was in a must-win situation throughout the regular season because he missed four of the season’s first six races due to the fact that he was not yet 18 years old.

This season was supposed to be a step forward for the second-year driver and two-time K&N Pro Series West champion. But not until he won this race did anything remotely resemble that step forward.

Gilliland’s father David Gilliland is the co-owner of Truck Series team DGR-Crosley, so it is believed that if he loses his ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports for next season, he will still compete in the series driving for his dad.

For all we know, a deal could already be in place for that to happen, and Gilliland’s reaction may have stemmed from wanting to get back at Busch for letting him go after saying what he said earlier in the year.

But would Gilliland really be that passionate about criticism from several months ago? Perhaps. With that being said, such passion about something far more recent would make a lot more sense — like the confirmed ending of a contract.

Regardless, there are so many considerations to make here; it’s not often we get to hear a driver or employee of any kind celebrate by F-bombing the boss who gave them the opportunity to have success, and for the whole world to hear, no less.

Where will Todd Gilliland be driving in the 2020 NASCAR season? Will he remain with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Truck Series? If not, will he remain in the Truck Series with DGR-Crosley? Regardless, did his F-bomb outburst toward current boss Kyle Busch affect anything? With just two races remaining in the 23-race 2019 season, we should know all the answers in the very near future.