NASCAR: Todd Gilliland’s KBM finale ended with a dead fox under the hood

Todd Gilliland’s final NASCAR Truck Series race at Kyle Busch Motorsports ended with a dead fox under the hood of his #4 Toyota.

Late in the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 200, at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday evening, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Todd Gilliland ran over a piece of debris.

Or so he thought.

In a tweet, spotter Kevin Hamlin stated that the grill of the 19-year-old Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native’s #4 Toyota was pushed in but that nothing was visible on it as far as debris was concerned. Nevertheless, the temperatures continued to rise.

Hamlin went on say that Gilliland said he may very well have run over a squirrel.

Suffice it to say that this wasn’t exactly the case.

https://twitter.com/KevinHamlin/status/1195759606926061571

Many fans immediately blamed NASCAR for this situation occurring, which is almost to be expected nowadays, even for situations that really have nothing to do with NASCAR.

So Hamlin went on to say that he didn’t mean for this fox revelation to turn into anything against NASCAR and that an incident of this nature simply isn’t preventable at such high speeds.

And while it is a race track, the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida is, in fact, still outdoors and not wildlife-proof.

https://twitter.com/KevinHamlin/status/1195795059322638336

More from Camping World Truck Series

• NASCAR: New team confirmed for Kyle Busch for 2024
• NASCAR: Replacement confirmed for driver released before Talladega
• NASCAR team releases driver with three races left
• NASCAR Truck Series: Spencer Boyd speaks on Montucky, Bristol tradition
• NASCAR title-winning team shutting down after 2023

Gilliland will not return to Kyle Busch Motorsports for the 2020 Truck Series season after spending two seasons with the team, as they confirmed Christian Eckes and Raphaël Lessard as their full-time drivers for next year.

So he finished in eighth place in his 48th and final race for the team with a bloody fox carcass under the hood of his #4 Toyota.

But after crossing the finish line in eighth place and discovering exactly what the “piece of debris” was that he hit late in the race, Gilliland did proceed to share three pictures of the roadkill on Twitter in response to Hamlin’s explanation of the situation.

WARNING: The following content may be sensitive for some to view.

Unfortunately, incidents such as these will never truly be 100% preventable no matter what steps NASCAR takes. On the flip side, fortunately this was a fluke and hopefully won’t be happening again.