David Gilliland returning to NASCAR Trucks Series at Charlotte

TRICON Garage team owner David Gilliland will be making his return to the NASCAR Truck Series this weekend at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.

He will be driving the No. 1 truck in the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. It will be his appearance on the tour since 2021.

“I’m beyond excited to get back into the driver’s seat and strap into our No. 1 Tundra TRD Pro,” Gilliland said in a statement. “It has been rewarding to step back and focus on growing our team and the transition back to Toyota, but of course the racer in me missed being in the driver’s seat. I owe a huge thank you to Carl Ruedebusch, Dion Reif, and the Serial 1 Dealer Network for putting this together and making it possible for me to drive again at Charlotte.”

Gilliland raced three times during the 2021 season on the Truck Series, making appearances in the NextEra Energy 250 at Daytona, Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas and the LiftKits4Less.com 200 at Darlington. He has done 20 NASCAR Truck Series races over the year, finishing in the top 10 six different times.

The 47-year-old racer has never appeared in more than seven truck races in a season.

Gilliland was on the NASCAR Cup Series tour for about a decade. His last full season was in 2015 and his last race at that level was in 2008.

He co-founded TRICON Garage in 2017. The team has four cars in the NASCAR Trucks Series circuit: the No. 1, No. 5, No. 11, No. 15 and the No. 17. The No. 1 truck is the only one without a full-time driver at the moment. Dean Thompson rides in the No. 5 track, Corey Heim mans the No. 11, Tanner Gray is behind the wheel of No. 15 and Taylor Gray drives the No. 17.

Bubba Wallace recently raced in the No. 1 truck during the Buckle Up South Carolina 200 two weekends ago and at the Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway this past weekend. He finished in the top 10 in both races, including a fifth-place finish at North Wilkesboro.