The NASCAR “Silly Season” is about more than just drivers and crew members changing teams.

On October 27, the Camping World Truck Series team David Gilliland Racing moved from racing Fords to Toyota’s for the new season.  DGR has also changed their name from David Gilliland Racing to TRICON Garage. 

The Camping World Truck Series will be getting a new sponsor next season as well – the Craftsman Truck Series. David Gilliland spoke on the team saying, “we are thrilled to return to Toyota and compete in the new Toyota Tundra TRD Pro next season.  I’ve seen Toyota’s dedication to the sport firsthand, and we are excited to partner with them going forward. I’m sure this new partnership is going to help TRICON reach our goals of consistently competing for race wins and championships.”

TRICON partner Johnny Gray also spoke on the new team saying, “our goal in the truck series is to create future racing icons.   We’ll know we did our job when several years from now our drivers are racing for Cup championships. As for Garage, what we do is more than just field a race team. We build chassis, we build bodies. We have a transportation company. We are marketers and content creators. We are teachers and mentors. It’s bigger than simply ‘motorsports’ or ‘racing.’ But what it all has in common is that it takes place in our garage. So, TRICON Garage just seemed to encompass what we’re all about.”

While David Gilliland will remain the team owner and many of the current crew members will remain; there will be a few noticeable changes at TRICON; namely the drivers.   

TRICON will field three trucks with full time drivers and a fourth truck with a number of part time drivers.  Brother Tanner and Taylor Gray; along with Corey Heim who drove part time for Kyle Busch Motorsports this season will fill out the team. 

At 17 Taylor Gray will not be able to compete in the truck series until he reaches the age of 18; his first race will be the road course race at Circuit of the Americas.  NASCAR has a rule that a driver must be at least 18 in order to race on any track over a mile in length.

Tanner spoke on racing with his younger brother Taylor saying, “it’s exciting obviously.  We’ve got to race each other a little bit up until this point, but it’s always nice having him there. He’s younger than me, but you wouldn’t know it. mature and he’s someone that I can go to and lean on He’s for advice and kind of bounce ideas off. We’re also super competitive and we want to beat each other. So, I’m looking forward to it. It’s gonna be fun.”

Taylor added, “personally, I wanna go out there and win, right?  I’m missing three races worth of points, so I think if you go out there and run top three every week, top five every week, then I think you can point your way in. But it’s always more comforting and better for yourself to win and get in the playoffs and lock yourself in for the first round. So, winning is better than anything.”

Corey Heim spoke on his moving to a new team saying, “it will be my first full-time year here in the Truck Series, but I feel like I’ve made enough starts to really carry a lot of momentum into 2023 with TRICON and TRD.  I really wanna get the ball rolling right away and hopefully go for some wins and compete for the championship when it’s all said and done. So, just super thankful for everyone at Toyota and TRD and TRICON for this opportunity. I think it’s gonna be really good.”

Hailie Deegan has been driving the number one truck but she is contracted through Ford, not DGR and will not be a part of the team next season.  There is no news as to where Deegan will be racing next season.

When Kyle Busch signed with Richard Childress Racing, he changes from driving a Toyota to a Chevrolet.  Busch has also announced that his racing team will continue but will be switching from a Toyota to a Chevrolet.  Bush has yet to make any announcements about who will be driving his trucks in the new season.  But one this is for sure, Rowdy is sure to be in one of them for his maximum of five races as a Cup Series driver.

feature photo credit: Todd gilliland tyler ankrum (50950375312).jpg