Certainly, KBM is one of the best Truck Series teams and this can very well be backed up by numbers. The team has garnered an impressive record of 99 victories since its inception. However, as is the case with every other team in the sport, they did go through a tough time.
In 2019, despite having a high-performance truck, Todd Gilliland struggled to secure a win. He finally achieved his first victory at Martinsville Speedway after a long time. But unfortunately, his celebration was marred by an F-bomb incident with his team owner Kyle Busch.
This raised a lot of questions. Many assumed it played a role in Todd’s departure from KBM at the end of the 2019 season. However, the reality of the situation was quite different.
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Now, about four years later, Todd Gilliland opened up about the true reason behind his outburst toward Kyle Busch, but it is important for every NASCAR fan to be aware of the context surrounding this incident.
Did Todd Gilliland’s Outburst Cause His Departure From KBM?
In that particular season, both Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton struggled to secure any victories. Kyle Busch, rightfully so, criticized both drivers. Notably, Kyle’s criticisms were not inaccurate because Kyle Busch had won five races in his five starts with the same truck.
Claiming his first victory after 46 races, When Todd Gilliland finally crossed the finish line at Martinsville, he unexpectedly vented his frustration over the radio, shouting, “Kyle Busch you can stay in your f**ing motorhome”
AUDIO pic.twitter.com/4wKfe4z8jy
— Luis Torres (@TheLTFiles) October 26, 2019
Before Kyle Busch’s early-season criticism, Gilliland continued to struggle in securing a win until late October. Furthermore, he failed to qualify for the playoffs, making his overall performance disappointing in a series that only features a handful of full-time competitors. It was evident that 46 races are a considerable drought for anyone at KBM.
After the Radio Incident, Kyle Busch, on NASCAR America presents MotorMouths, said, “He went to apologize, kind of the same thing that he said on Twitter. I’m like, ‘OK, it’s all fine. Not really sure that’s the first time you’ve thought of that because it came so easily.’ Everybody’s wondering, ‘Is he fired?’ No, he’s going to finish out the season.”
Simply put, the underperformance was the bottom line here, not a profane comment.
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Todd Gilliland Opens Up About the F-Bomb Incident
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In a recent episode of ‘Stalking Pennies with Corey LaJoie’, Todd Gilliland was questioned about the reason behind his choice of words toward his boss. Todd expressed his disappointment and blamed long frustration responsible for the F-bomb.
Todd said, “You wish you could have stuff back. But yeah, I mean that’s just really frustrating, right? I feel like we came off the two K&N West Championship as a young kid, you know, probably more confident than you should be. And honestly, I probably expected myself going to be a good team that we could go out and win races and definitely compete much better than we did. So I was extremely frustrated.”
“Just overall frustration with probably myself the whole situation. I was wishing that our trucks would be better and sometimes you don’t feel like you’re getting listened to, and I just feel kind of the normal racing frustrations that younger me definitely, let it get the best of me,” he concluded.
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Do you think his abusive words were responsible for his departure from KBM? Or was it his underperformance?