David Gilliland Racing reunites with Toyota, reforms into TRICON Garage

When David Gilliland founded David Gilliland Racing in 2018, Toyota was the vehicle of choice across all levels including the NASCAR Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series. After a three-year run with Ford, DGR will return to Toyota power for the 2023 season in alliance with Toyota Racing Development. With a new make also comes a new identity as the team will be renamed to TRICON Garage.

“We are thrilled to return to Toyota and compete in the new Toyota Tundra TRD Pro next season,” Gilliland said Thursday. “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” is a portmanteau of “tri” and “icon”. The former refers to the three championships that are available in NASCAR (driver, owner, manufacturer) as well as the team’s involvement in three industries (racing, fabrication, transportation). The “Garage” suffix is a departure from convention as most NASCAR team names end with “Racing”, “Motorsports”, or “Team”.

“Our goal in the Truck Series is to create future racing icons,” team co-owner Johnny Gray explained. “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.”

Gray’s grandsons Tanner and Taylor will race full-time for the team’s Truck programme in the #15 and #17 Tundras, respectively. After making his début in 2019, Tanner has been a regular for the past three years with fifteen top tens and a best points finish of fourteenth in 2020. Taylor, the 2022 ARCA East runner-up, has recorded sporadic Truck starts since 2021; as he will only be seventeen when the 2023 season begins, he is not eligible to run the first three races.

The switch to Toyota also means TRICON will receive access to TRD’s development drivers. As such, Corey Heim will run the full schedule in the #11 truck. Despite not being a full-timer, he already has two Truck wins to his name at Atlanta and Gateway.

A fourth truck, the #1, will be piloted by multiple drivers. Although Hailie Deegan currently races the #1 for DGR, she is a member of the Ford family and will therefore not remain involved. The team first fielded a fourth entry at the Bristol Dirt Race in April with the #54 for Joey Logano.

TRICON’s allies will include Halmar Friesen Racing, Hattori Racing Enterprises, and ThorSport Racing; ThorSport has also flipped between Toyota and Ford after spending three years with the latter. While Kyle Busch Motorsports had been TRD’s top Truck team, they are moving to Chevrolet for 2023 as their eponymous owner joins Richard Childress Racing.

“Toyota is pleased to rejoin TRICON with this expanded partnership,” TRD president David Wilson proclaimed. “We are excited for this new opportunity for our Toyota development drivers and partners to experience TRICON’s success and winning culture. The Truck Series is very important to Toyota, and we know TRICON is going to continue to deliver for us as we begin our twentieth season in the series.”

Despite losing Gilliland, Ford will still have a presence in the Truck Series in Front Row Motorsports; his son Todd races for FRM in the Cup Series.