Todd Gilliland proving to be perfect fit for growing Front Row Motorsports

Todd Gilliland and Front Row Motorsports seem to be a match made in NASCAR heaven. 

While the 24-year-old from Sherrills Ford, N.C. has yet to win a race in the NASCAR Cup Series, the third-year Cup Series driver continues to show improvement, getting better with every lap he turns in the No. 38 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. 

Gilliland joined Front Row's Truck Series team in 2020, taking the No. 38 truck to the playoffs in the team's maiden voyage as a truck series program. In 2021, Gilliland broke through for his first win with the team at Circuit of the Americas, returning to the postseason for the second straight year. 

After David Ragan, John Hunter Nemechek and Anthony Alfredo piloted the team's No. 38 car in the Cup Series over three seasons, Bob Jenkins and Front Row made Gilliland the fourth driver of the No. 38 car since 2019. The results weren't spectacular for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series rookie, but he provided stability for the No. 38 team and returned for 2023. 

It was the first time since 2018-19 with Ragan that Front Row Motorsports had the same driver in the No. 38 car for more than one season. Gilliland finished 28th in points for the second straight season in 2023 but doubled his top-10s from 2022 (earning four) and improved his average finish by 1.2 positions. 

2024 has been a breakthrough season for Gilliland in the Cup Series, albeit a quiet one. 

Gilliland made noise at the first two events of the season, leading 16 laps in the Daytona 500 and 58 the next weekend at Atlanta. Though crashes took him out of contention in both races, his efforts showed that he wasn't afraid to run with the big dogs. 

Since Kansas on May 5, Gilliland hasn't finished worse than 17th and earned a 10th-place finish at Sonoma on Sunday. He has also steadily moved up in the points standings, going from 26th to 21st over the five-race span. 

While Gilliland's improvement should give his fans hope of an upset win and more consistent runs this season, it also proves to the suits at Front Row that he's the right choice to serve as the team's cornerstone.

With veteran and 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell leaving FRM after the 2024 season, the team needed either a veteran or young talent to step up. With nearly three full-time Cup Series seasons under his belt, Gilliland checks both of those boxes. 

Recently, it was announced that Gilliland had signed a multiyear contract extension with Front Row to remain in the No. 38 car, a move that would have seemed wild just four years ago when it seemed any driver with a pulse had been asked to drive FRM's second Cup Series entry around the track. 

With Front Row purchasing a third charter in the wake of Stewart-Haas Racing's charter, along with needing to fill the soon-to-be vacant seat left by McDowell, Gilliland remains the sole tenured pillar of an organization that has seen significant improvement since the introduction of NASCAR's Next Gen car in 2022. 

For now, Gilliland continues to fly under the radar as one of the brightest, albeit quiet, young talents in the Cup Series. 

If he keeps running inside the top 15, however, he will no longer be under the radar.