Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports. This interview has been edited for clarity, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions Podcast.<\/p>\n
1. Do you typically arrive for things early, late or on time, and why?<\/p>\n
I used to be a really early guy. I think it\u2019s because my mom was always late with us \u2014 not in a bad way, just running behind a little bit \u2014 but now I\u2019ve pushed it more toward right on time. There\u2019s a sweet spot there. Two minutes early is great.<\/p>\n
2. What is the pettiest thing that annoys you during a race weekend?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m kind of particular about my visors right now on my helmet. For whatever reason, if there\u2019s any scratch at all\u2026it\u2019s just happened in the last year. My whole career, I never really changed visors that much at all. But in the last year, I\u2019ve just gotten super picky about any scratch or anything, which is super random. I don\u2019t even know how I got to this point.<\/p>\n
My interior guy this week, we\u2019ve had to check out a few different ones. So it\u2019s been a mess, but it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n
Do you see it before you get in the car, or it\u2019s when you get in the car and go, \u201cUgh, that scratch is really irritating me\u201d during a race?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just as soon as I get in to actually drive or race that I notice it. It\u2019s really weird. I never notice it outside the car or anything. And then as soon as I get in, for whatever reason, I get way too focused on it. It definitely annoys me.<\/p>\n
3. What is something you\u2019ve learned to stop explaining to people?<\/p>\n
A lot of times people in racing ask me if I\u2019m a good golfer or a bad golfer. I\u2019m OK compared to the normal population. But then it\u2019s one of those questions where you can get into a long rabbit hole of if you\u2019re actually good or bad. But realistically, everyone\u2019s bad at golf because it\u2019s a really hard game. So I feel like that\u2019s just a hard one to explain to people.<\/p>\n
4. If you could go back to the early days before you reached NASCAR, what is one different decision you wish you had made in your career?<\/p>\n
When I was in Trucks at (Kyle Busch Motorsports), I definitely wish I had some moments back at the end of my time there. (Actually) kind of the whole time at KBM. It was obviously very exciting to go there and get a great opportunity, but I didn\u2019t make the most of it.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I learned a ton of different lessons during that time period. I feel like if you do everything right there, you get to the next level and then you still make some bad mistakes and learn other ways. So it\u2019s hard to say. But I wish I would have handled things differently over the course of those two years.<\/p>\n
5. What is it like to be in a debrief after a bad race?<\/p>\n
Debriefs are tough anyway. Ours are very interesting with myself, Zane (Smith) and Noah (Gragson). Everyone talks very differently and just the way people explain things is different. So it\u2019s a lot of fun for the most part, but after a bad week, it\u2019s not the most fun. Even some of the superspeedways when you maybe didn\u2019t do the best thing as a teammate, those are the ones I look forward to the least when I know I\u2019m going to get yelled at for some moves I did out there.<\/p>\n
Over a bad weekend, those are the ones you really have to dig in and really figure out the most.<\/p>\n
6. I\u2019m doing two wild card questions \u2014 one about the past and one about the present. In terms of the past, I wanted to look back at the time when you were taken out of races when Zane got some opportunities in your car and you had to scramble for opportunities. How did you handle that period and get through that?<\/p>\n
That was definitely a really interesting time. It was my second year. I ran my whole rookie year with the first year of the Next Gen car (in 2022). Everything was crazy. People were wrecking every single week. I felt like I learned a lot. I think at that time Michael (McDowell) and I finished first and second in most laps completed. I felt like I was learning a lot. Obviously, we weren\u2019t probably fast at times, but I felt like we were doing a lot of the right things.<\/p>\n
Then to be taken out for five races, it was a scramble. At that time there were a lot of different options on the table. I\u2019m really proud that we were able to come together and make the most out of it.<\/p>\n
I got five races at Rick Ware (Racing), which I still think was a really good opportunity because I got to see a different perspective of the Next Gen car early on. That early in the process, everyone was still trying to figure it out. You can really get down a certain path and think it\u2019s the right way, but once you go somewhere else, I feel like you can broaden your horizons a lot.<\/p>\n
Between Zane and me, it was awkward at times. But we kind of knew it wasn\u2019t really between us personally. It took a couple months, but we got past it. And now it\u2019s funny to look back on, especially since we ended up teammates again.<\/p>\n
7. And in terms of the present, what was it really like going through the uncertainty of the lawsuit last year and not knowing what might happen with the team? How worried were you?<\/p>\n
As soon as it happened, you don\u2019t really know which way it\u2019s going to go. During the race season, I truthfully didn\u2019t think about it much because you get so focused on racing.<\/p>\n
But once the season ended, all the possibilities start popping into your mind whether you want them to or not. As there was more talk about the trial and everything, it definitely creeps in. Day one of the trial, I got super nervous. I was like, \u201cWow, this is literally going to come down to a handful of people on a jury.\u201d It\u2019s hard not to think about the team not even existing.<\/p>\n
When it finally settled, we were supposed to have our team Christmas lunch that day. We pushed it back an hour so our team owner (Bob Jenkins) could come. Zane and I brought some beers into the shop. Everyone was super happy. That was the coolest part. Once it was finally over, you could really see the amount of stress taken off everybody.<\/p>\n
Now we\u2019re back to work like normal and it\u2019s nice that we\u2019re able to look much further into the future and feel really good about everything.<\/p>\n
8. If you could get any driver\u2019s helmet in the history of motorsports, whose would it be?<\/p>\n
In the history of motorsports is crazy! The first one that pops into my mind is Jimmie Johnson\u2019s from when he won his seventh championship. I think he gave it to Tony Stewart right there on the stage. That would be a really cool one to have.<\/p>\n
I also think a really cool old-school open-face helmet, like something Richard Petty used to wear, would be super cool.<\/p>\n
9. When things are not going well, do you prefer people leave you alone or check in on you?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a tough one. There are certain moments where I could use being around people. But when it\u2019s going really bad, I probably need like three minutes by myself. Then I\u2019m ready to get back going.<\/p>\n
I feel like I move past things really fast. But with human nature, maybe two minutes by myself, then I\u2019m ready to get back going again.<\/p>\n
10. What is something about yourself that would surprise people who think they know you?<\/p>\n
I love to sleep in. I love to play Xbox and iRacing. I love to be on a beach. I\u2019m a big warm-weather guy.<\/p>\n
What do you play on Xbox?<\/p>\n
On Xbox, Harrison Burton, Christian Eckes and I play a lot of PGA 2K, the golf game. We used to play a lot of Modern Warfare and Call of Duty. We jump around a little bit. We\u2019ve played F1. We\u2019re kind of all over the board.<\/p>\n
11. What is something you laugh about now that was absolutely not funny at the time?<\/p>\n
When I was 14 or 15 years old in Late Models, Chris Lawson \u2014 who is my crew chief now \u2014 was my Late Model crew chief back then. I was wrecking a lot of Late Models. He says this story is different, but I remember he was very mad that I wrecked again, and he tossed a bumper in my direction. He says he wasn\u2019t throwing it at me, and I was like, \u201cWhoa dude, this guy means business. He\u2019s over me. I better stop wrecking this thing.\u201d But now we look back on it and it\u2019s definitely a lot funnier.<\/p>\n
So you feel like he threw the bumper at you but he says was just throwing it generally in anger?<\/p>\n
He was just \u201cgetting it out of the way\u201d apparently. I was in the way, it just so happened. We\u2019ll never know about that one.<\/p>\n
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. Last week was Chase Briscoe and his question is: If you could pick three teammates for a four-car team, who would they be and why?<\/p>\n
I\u2019d say Denny Hamlin would be one. I\u2019d love to see the behind the scenes of how he operates, especially right now. He always talks about how hard he works and everything, so it\u2019d be cool to see.<\/p>\n
Kyle Larson would be another one. I\u2019d love to also see behind the scenes what he does.<\/p>\n
And then Austin Cindric, since he\u2019s a Ford guy right now. We\u2019ve been working together and talking a lot (at Daytona). I feel like he\u2019d be a fun teammate.<\/p>\n
I love my teammates now, too! But I had to put them out of my mind to choose different ones.<\/p>\n
Do you have a question I can ask the next person?<\/p>\n
(Gilliland said he\u2019d submit a question when he knows who the next person is.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Todd…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,12716,634,82],"class_list":["post-498425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-motorsports","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}