Todd Gilliland has officially returned to full-time status in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The 22-year-old will enhance his relationship with Front Row Motorsports to include a 31st event in 2023, piloting the No. 36 Ford Mustang in the NASCAR Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway in April.
Support for the effort will come from Carl Ruedebusch, the owner of N29 Capital Partners and Ruedebusch Development and Construction – who is set to sponsor Gilliland in several NASCAR Cup Series events in 2023.
“I really want to thank Carl Ruedebusch for everything he has done for me,” said Gilliland. “It is not just this year, but last year, and being a good friend to our family. Also, it’s important to be clear that Bob Jenkins has put more resources into my career than anyone outside my family. It was unfortunate that I can’t race all 36 races with FRM, but the team is working hard to build my program for the future. For now, I want to thank all our partners, and especially Carl Ruedebusch for working together to make this happen. We will now put this behind us and go race to win.”
Chris Lawson, crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Front Row Motorsports, will lead the organization’s third entry at Talladega Superspeedway, reuniting a driver-crew chief pairing that was quite successful in its short tenure.
“I wanted to ensure that Todd raced the full season in the NASCAR Cup Series this year,” said Ruedebusch. “He has proven that he can compete with the best of the best and be successful. We are thankful to Front Row Motorsports for making this opportunity available for Todd to reunite with his old teammates and friend Chris Lawson to race for a win at Talladega.”
Last season, Gilliland was able to secure a single top-five result, as well as two top-10 finishes, putting together a solid rookie campaign to finish 28th-place in final NASCAR Cup Series points.
“Carl Ruedebusch has been a champion for Todd the past two seasons,” said Freeze. “He immediately stepped up to make this happen for Todd and we’re thankful for that. We have seen success with our third entry at the superspeedways in the recent past. We know that Todd and Chris working together again is a great opportunity to win at Talladega.”
With the addition of Talladega to his schedule, Gilliland has now restored his full-time status at NASCAR’s top-level, after being shuffled out of Front Row Motorsports’ second-chartered entry for six races in favor of defending NASCAR Truck Series champion Zane Smith.
During Speedweeks, Gilliland confirmed that he would be contesting five of his six vacancies for Rick Ware Racing, piloting the No. 15 Ford Mustang starting at Phoenix Raceway.
The Sherrils Ford, North Carolina native will compete in the No. 38 for Front Row Motorsports this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, before jumping over to the No. 15 Ford Mustang for the first time at Phoenix Raceway.
