DGR opens fourth truck for Joey Logano at Bristol Dirt

David Gilliland Racing will have four trucks at 16 April’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, two of which will be piloted by Cup Series drivers. While Harrison Burton is in the #17 Ford F-150, the team confirmed Wednesday that Joey Logano will drive the newly opened #54. Planet Fitness will serve as his sponsor.

Logano announced his plans to race at Bristol in March, which will be just his eighth career Truck Series start. His seventh and last came at Martinsville in 2015 for the now defunct Brad Keselowski Racing, a race that saw him win the pole before scoring the victory. The 2018 Cup Series champion won the inaugural Cup race on Bristol’s dirt layout last year.

Many had expected Logano to take over the #17, which serves as DGR’s multi-driver truck, before Burton was announced as its driver on Tuesday. Burton, a Cup rookie, races for Wood Brothers Racing who has a partnership with Logano’s employer Team Penske.

DGR previously fielded the #54 in 2018 and 2019 for a variety of drivers including team owner David Gilliland and former partner Bo LeMastus. Dirt ringers drove the truck at the two Eldora Speedway rounds as Chris Windom and Kyle Strickler placed fourteenth and eighteenth, respectively. The number has a history of winning on dirt as Bubba Wallace scored the 2014 Eldora victory when it was used by Kyle Busch Motorsports.

“NASCAR Cup Series standouts and Ford Performance drivers Joey Logano and Harrison Burton will compete in the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway for David Gilliland Racing,” begins the official team statement.

“Logano, the defending winner of the Food City Dirt Race and former Cup Series champion for Team Penske will be making his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance since a 2015 win at Martinsville Speedway. This will mark the No. 54 team’s return, having not competed since the 2019 season.

“Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate and Wood Brothers driver Harrison Burton will also join the DGR stable, driving the Hunt Bros. F-150 in his first appearance in The World’s Fastest Half-Mile’s dirt configuration.

“He has two career dirt starts at Eldora Speedway, with a career-best finish of 15th in 2017. In addition to the two other full-time DGR entires [sic] for Tanner Gray and Hailie Deegan, the No. 17 team has featured an all-star lineup of wheelmen this season, including Ryan Preece, Riley Herbst and Taylor Gray.”

Seven races into the Cup season, Logano is fifth in points with three top tens and a best finish of fifth at Fontana.