By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Todd Gilliland reached the final round of NASCAR’s second In-Season Challenge by taking advantage of all the right breaks.
Daniel Suarez suffered an early tire problem in Round 1 at Sonoma and finished 31st. Carson Hocevar crashed early at Chicago in Round 2. Alex Bowman finished two laps behind the leaders at Atlanta in Round 3, then made a pit lane mistake at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, that helped eliminate Chase Elliott and put Gilliland in Sunday’s finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
So, naturally, the self-described underdog persevered again. He sifted his way through traffic, avoided trouble and took advantage of Ryan Blaney’s late crash to collect the $1 million prize, earning the right to suddenly be called a champion.
“It was a tough day for us to be honest with you,” he said after finishing 24th, two spots ahead of Blaney to claim the title. “But I thought that was kind of our whole M.O. right through this whole thing. We were just barely scraping by and even today, it definitely took a little bit of bad luck clearly from the (No.) 12 (Blaney).”
While most NASCAR fans were watching Corey Heim speed past team co-owner Denny Hamlin on a late restart and into history with his first Brickyard 400 victory, Gilliland and Blaney continued to battle for the race inside the race with Gilliland seemingly one of the most unlikely winners in the challenge’s field.
The 26-year-old driver from Front Row Motorsports began the five-round, single-elimination tournament seeded 25th and a resume that appeared less than daunting.
In five Cup seasons, he has never won a race or a pole and he has produced just 17 top-10 finishes in 164 career starts. So winning seemed almost unfathomable.
“We’ve caught a lot of lucky breaks. We’ve barely been skating by all these rounds,” Gilliland said Friday. “But now that we’re here, yeah, it feels a bit more real and you never know, right? Four hundred miles, anything can happen. So we’re just going to go give our best effort and try not to think about what it would be like if we won.”
The weekend sure didn’t start well for Gilliland, who qualified 36th — 23 spots behind Blaney. And aside from a pit cycle that helped him finish second in Sunday’s second stage, Gilliland always seemed to be in Blaney’s rearview mirror, until destiny intervened with 41 laps to go.
This time, Blaney appeared to be perfectly positioned for a 12th consecutive top-11 finish and claiming one of the titles team owner Roger Penske hasn’t held. That’s when John Hunter Nemechek tapped Blaney’s car, sending him hard into the wall, causing a nine-car crash that damaged the right side of Blaney’s car.
“That 42 guy, it’s every week with him,” Gilliland radioed in, referring to Nemechek.
Blaney’s crew members scrambled to get the No. 12 Ford back on the track and Blaney methodically got his car within striking distance of Gilliland.
But Gilliland, who luckily managed to navigate his way cleanly through the debris and cars involved in the crash, stayed in front and barely finished ahead of Blaney to be crowned champion.
“I think when you’re the 25th seed, looking up at that mountain of ‘We have beat this guy or this guy,’ it seems like a very tall task,” Gilliland said. “So yeah, maybe for myself, I never really thought this was a realistic goal. But when you get a little closer, you get past one round, two rounds and then you’re in the final eight, final four and then you’re in the in the finale, it ramps up a lot. So, yeah, it’s cool, and I think you kind of saw that with my team.”
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