In 2018, Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton dueled for victory in a headline event to kick off SpeedWeeks. In 2019, Gilliland and Burton also dueled for victory in a headline event to kick off SpeedWeeks.
But the two events, and the two race tracks at which they were held, were vastly different.
In 2018, Gilliland and Burton dominated the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East New Smyrna 175 at the banked half-mile New Smyrna Speedway. The two comibed to lead every lap of the 175-lap shootout, with Burton moving Gilliland out of the way top lead at the white flag. Not be be denied, Gilliland repayed the favor and muscled Burton out of the way into turn three and crossed the line first. Burton lost second at the line to Cole Rouse, going from the lead at the white flag to third at the finish.
Gilliland, a two-time K&N Pro Series West champion and the youngest winner in ARCA Menards Series history, and Burton, 2017 K&N Pro Series East champion and son of former Cup Series winner and current NASCAR on NBC analyst Jeff Burton, renewed their Florida SpeedWeeks battle on the ultra-fast highbanks at Daytona International Speedway in the Lucas Oil 200.
Burton spent much of the day at the front of the field, battling with his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes throughout most of the day. Gilliland, however, would spend the first part of the day logging laps at the back of the lead draft before charging to the front late in the race.
Gilliland teamed up with Brandon McReynolds and they both drafted into contention. With two laps to go, Gilliland attempted a bump draft with McReynolds that resulted in McReynolds getting sideways down the backstretch and keying off a multi-car crash that sent the race into overtime.
On the restart for the one-lap dash to the checkered, Gilliland lined up behind Burton on the inside lane. He pushed Burton into the lead, and while he tried to find some momentum on the outside coming to the flag, Burton was able to return the favor from 2018 to score his first win at Daytona.
“I went to work side drafting and once I got past my teammate Christian that really put us in control of the race,” Burton said. “We had a good pit stop and a whole bunch of things went right for us to lead that many laps and get the win.”
“I always raced at New Smyrna and watched the races over here at the big track and I am finally old enough to do it,” Burton said. “What that means can’t really be put into words. I have been really motivated trying to be the best driver I can be.”
Gilliland was pleased with his run from the back of the field, and found the race to be a motivator when he gets to compete against Burton and Eckes again on Friday night in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series season opener.
“My car was perfect,” Gilliland said. “I could go wherever I wanted. That’s exactly the kind of car you want here and it doesn’t happen too often. We were only at the front for one restart. We had to come back down to top it off on the pit stop so we didn’t get to spend a lot of time at the front. It’s cool for Harrison and for Christian. I look forward to working with both of them in the Truck as teammates at KBM. Hopefully I can end up in victory lane then.”
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