NASCAR: Is this the break Todd Gilliland needed after tumultuous season?

Todd Gilliland is slated to drive for Front Row Motorsports in the 2020 NASCAR Truck Series season. Is this the break he needed after a rough tenure at Kyle Busch Motorsports?

The subject of much speculation throughout the first two months of the three-month offseason between the 2019 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series seasons, Todd Gilliland secured at least another year at NASCAR’s third highest level on Monday.

Front Row Motorsports, which have competed for several years on a full-time basis in the Cup Series, announced plans to expand into the Truck Series beginning in the 2020 season, and they announced that they would be doing so with the 19-year-old Sherrills Ford, North Carolina native behind the wheel of the #38 Ford.

This news comes after a tumultuous tenure at Kyle Busch Motorsports for Gilliland, which spanned one full season, two seasons as a full-time driver (missed four races in 2018 due to being under the age of 18) and three seasons in total, and it was a tenure that did not result in a ton of success, at least not compared to the high expectations at the top-tier Toyota organization.

It took Gilliland 46 races to finally secure career win number one at Kyle Busch’s team, the all-time worst mark in team history.

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He ended his tenure there with 26 top 10 finishes, of which 12 were top five finishes, in 48 starts and an average finish of 11.4.

In two attempts, he never qualified for the playoffs, even with such a small amount of drivers competing full-time and eight playoff spots available.

There were several instances throughout Gilliland’s tenure with the team, particularly during his second season there, that resulted in Busch criticizing his performance. At one point, Busch stated that he and teammate Harrison Burton “ain’t doing shit” in top-tier Kyle Busch Motorsports equipment, and he also added that if you can’t cut it with his team, you’re not going to be able to cut it in NASCAR.

So when Gilliland finally got his first win in what was the antepenultimate race of the 2019 season, he got extremely emotional, shouting over the radio to his team to tell Busch to “stay in his f—ing motorhome” as opposed to coming to congratulate him following a year of criticism.

Busch came to victory lane to congratulate him anyway, presumably without knowing at the time what had just gone down inside the #4 Toyota, but it didn’t take long for Busch to hear about what Gilliland had said.

Speculation began to heat up about Gilliland’s future because of his outburst, but his future at Kyle Busch Motorsports may have been predetermined based solely on his lack of performance. Busch stated that he wasn’t “fired” for saying what he said, but keep in mind, there were now just two races remaining in the 23-race season.

Shortly thereafter, the team confirmed a completely new driver lineup for the 2020 season, with Raphael Lessard and Christian Eckes set to replace Gilliland and the Xfinity Series-bound Burton.

Now Gilliland, as expected, was officially left without a ride.

Fortunately for him, his father David owns DGR-Crosley, another competitive Truck Series team and a team with open seats for the 2020 season.

But asked about the prospect of joining his father’s team as a fallback option, Gilliland refused to refer to it as a fallback option.

And while everyone pretty much assumed that there was a seat practically with his name written on it if he couldn’t line anything else up, his response made sense.

Think about it.

If he confirms it as a fallback option and ends up there anyway, what does that say about the prospect of any kind of future in NASCAR for him beyond the family business following his stint at Kyle Busch Motorsports?

And what does that say about his willingness to compete for subpar teams, especially after a less than impressive run at Kyle Busch Motorsports, if he publicly declares his very own father’s competitive team nothing more than a “fallback” option?

But now he doesn’t have to worry about it, and he has a chance to prove his doubters wrong with a whole new team in a ride that isn’t fielded by his father, even though Front Row Motorsports do have a technical alliance with DGR-Crosley.

And he won’t be doing it for Busch.

Say what you want about Busch “keeping it real” and being a better team boss because of his willingness to openly criticism his drivers as opposed to being a boss who coddles his young drivers at that level.

But if you’re going to make the case that his unique attitude is beneficial for a team, see it from Gilliland’s point of view as well as far as being beneficial — or not — at the individual level instead of making him out to be some defiant punk kid for letting his emotions get the best of him when faced with months and years of mounting frustration.

Why? Because unless he shouts “Bob Jenkins, you can stay in your f—ing motorhome!”, he does not have an attitude problem that is even remotely worth discussing at this point.

He is now no longer under the pressure that he was under at Kyle Busch Motorsports, and he can capitalize on that from a performance standpoint as well. Sure, other drivers have had success with Busch’s team under the same pressure, but different drivers respond differently to different circumstances and different bosses.

That was literally one of the first things that ex-Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Noah Gragson noted when he was promoted to the Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned JR Motorsports team in the Xfinity Series, and he had success with Busch’s team, finishing runner-up in the 2018 Truck Series championship standings.

Gilliland has the talent to be successful, demonstrating that potential by winning two consecutive K&N Pro Series West championships before being promoted to the Truck Series.

This is exactly the break he needed after a tumultuous tenure answering to Busch.

How will Todd Gilliland perform in his third season as a full-time NASCAR Truck Series driver and his first behind the wheel of a Ford for Front Row Motorsports? The 2020 season is scheduled to get underway in just over four weeks with the NextEra Energy 250, which is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, February 14.