“My Heart Was Pounding!” Todd Gilliland Over the Moon After Defeating Ryan Blaney to Win $1 Million Bracket Challenge

Todd Gilliland produced one of the best underdogs run in the in-season bracket challenge and with help of some luck defeated 2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney to earn a $1 million pay-day. He finished the race P24, two places ahead of the No:12 Ford driver whose 400^th career Cup race was ruined by a stage three wreck.

The race, who was 25 seeded in the challenge, out finished some big names of the sport in the previous rounds such as Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, to fly back home with the trophy. Talking about it to the media, the Front Row Motorsports drivers highlighted how was under massive pressure in the last 25 laps, as the Penske Ford was still right behind him.

It was a tough day for us, to be honest with you, the team as a whole. Yeah, I thought that was kind of our whole MO through this whole thing, we were barely scraping by, even today, right? It took a bit of bad luck clearly from the 12 (Blaney). My heart was pounding those last 25 laps. It was me, the 16 and the 12. Yeah, still seemed like one slip-up and I was going to be right in front of the 12 or right behind him even coming down to the very end.

Todd Gilliland said after winning the challenge.

But they earned the finish good enough to secure the payday, overcoming these challenges. Todd Gilliland has his whole team to credit for the success, as they stepped up their game every week and elevated their performance when it mattered that most. At the end, as it often the case, the fortunate favored the racer that took the most risks during the challenge.

I still feel like we kind of earned it coming down the stretch. I think I kind of talked about it before, but the biggest thing for me that was really cool through this whole process was seeing how my team really elevated themselves, really grabbed another gear. They worked super, super hard, long hours for this week, just really ramped up throughout this whole in-season challenge. I think it’s cool. They unlocked another level within themselves.

Todd Gilliland added as reported by motorsport.com.

Ryan Blaney is beyond disappointed with the loss to Todd Gilliland

If not for the bad luck, the result would’ve been much better for the veteran racer and it was evident in his post-race press conference, where he highlighted how John Hunter Nemecheck ruined his day. JHN apologized to the star racer, but his mistake cost them $1 million.

He apologized and said he didn’t mean to do it. Still happened though. So yeah, I don’t know. I mean, we’re all just trying to funnel into the corner, and I was just trying to fill the lane and thought I had plenty of room. And obviously I didn’t.

Ryan Blaney told the media post-race.

Furthermore, Ryan Blaney highlighted how disappointed he is with the fact that they weren’t able to secure a good finish as he most often does at the track. It had consequences in the championship table as well, with Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick extended the lead on him while Ty Gibbs closed the gap to P3.

So yeah, it’s a shame to end it that way. We were just kind of scrapping along, and yeah, it stinks. I wanted to put together a good run today, just try to have a shot to run well here, the place we try to run really well at. Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way we wanted, so not a fun day.

Ryan Blaney added.

The veteran racer needs to keep his head high and work on getting back to fighting for win, executing without mistake, from next week at Iowa, with just four more races left in the regular season. It would be interesting to see how the rest of the season would playout for the veteran in the coming days.

Also Read: “Big Fat L”! Corey Heim Takes a Savage Dig at Carson Hocevar Over Middle Finger Controversy Post-Indy Win