With the recent announcement of Stewart-Haas Racing’s upcoming closure at the end of the year and the expansion efforts by Front Row Motorsports (FRM), which is growing into a formidable three-car team, driver Todd Gilliland is vocal about seizing opportunities from these industry shifts.
Front Row Motorsports has been rapidly expanding, acquiring a third car and signing promising talent like Noah Gragson. Amid these team changes, Gilliland stresses the importance of hiring the right talent from the dissolving Stewart-Haas Racing team. On the ‘Door Bumper Clear’ podcast, Gilliland articulated his vision for FRM, stating, as quoted by Essentially Sports:
“You know, Jerry Frees and our management group at Front Row—we have to get the right people. There’s obviously a lot of good people out there right now with, you know, Stuart-Haas changing their whole thing, and it’s just about getting the right people in the right positions and obviously getting the right drivers. So, yeah, we’ll see, but I’m super excited about it.”
Stewart-Haas Racing confirmed that it would be closing down its NASCAR team at the end of the current season, as quoted by NASCAR.com:
“We have made the difficult decision to close Stewart-Haas Racing at the conclusion of the 2024 season. It is a decision that did not come easily, nor was it made quickly.
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“Racing is a labor-intensive, humbling sport. It requires unwavering commitment and vast resources, with a 365-day mindset to be better than everyone else. It’s part of what makes success so rewarding.
“But the commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we’ve reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it’s time to pass the torch.”
2023 has been challenging for Gilliland, who temporarily competed for Rick Ware Racing and missed out on races later taken by his close friend, Zane Smith.
Reflecting on this period, he said:
“It was a really tough situation. Me and Zane were friends, and we still are great friends. It’s just funny, looking back you’re always going to have these type of situations. Become friends with the people you’re racing. It wasn’t between me and him, it still isn’t. Racing deal is a business. I would say that was the toughest part. Just kind of absorbing the news of not going to race these six races.
“Do I need to go back and run the Xfinity Series or Truck Series again and win more races. It was definitely kind of a time to reflect or guess.”