Every once there comes a long a rookie that raises eyebrows and turns heads in the Lucky Dog Racing league. They immediately make an impact with their accomplishments but in the case of Todd Oliver we may never see this happen again in the league.
Todd is definitely in a class by himself after pulling off two historic feats. First, Todd became the first player to win rookie of the year in all three leagues and he did it one year after another. Second, and more impressive, he became the first player to win three Cup series championship and will probably be the only player to win it in three consecutive years starting as a rookie.
From those accomplishments, Todd Oliver breaks another record by becoming the first member to enter the Hall of Fame after the minimum of five years of participating in the league.
Todd began his Lucky Dog Racing career as most everyone else does, by starting in the Truck series. His first start came February 20th, 2015 at Daytona. His career did not start off very good though, he finished in 42nd place in that race. The next race he finished better with a 22nd place finish. Three races later, he would earn his first top 5 with a 5th place finish at Charlotte in May. It would be three more months before he got his next top 5 at Michigan.
The very next week he would earn his first career win which came at Bristol, winning by just one point over Stephen DiCaprio. He would add a few more top 5's and finish the season in 3rd place and easily winning rookie of the year in a three driver battle.
Todd would advance up to the Xfinity series the following season. His first start came Feb. 20, 2016 and like the Truck series, he struggled out of the gate. He finished in 44th place at Daytona. Two races later, he would earn his first top 10 at Las Vegas after finishing in 7th and then 10th and 9th the next two races.
Todd's first Xfinity win would come at Pocono in June of that season. That would lock him into the playoffs which were taking place for the first time in the Xfinity series that season. Todd would actually go into the playoffs as the number one seed after picking up a second win at Iowa. He didn't have a great first round but he was able to advance as the final driver. He also managed to make the final four as the final driver and ended the season in 3rd place and easily winning rookie of the year.
While Todd excelled in the Xfinity series that season, his second season the Truck series ended up being a bit of a sophomore slump with a 14th place finish. He did pick up another win that season at Phoenix in November.
Luckily for Todd, he was able to make the Cup series the following season thanks to his third place finish. At that time we allowed a top finisher to make the series regardless of the amount of time that the next person on the waiting list had. These days, if anyone on the list has been there five years or longer, they get the spot. Todd would still be in the Xfinity series today if he had fallen under that rule. Todd was able to make it in and that's where his real magic happened.
Like the previous two series, Todd's first start wasn't anything to write home about, but it was a bit better than the Xfinity and Truck series, he finished 25th in the Daytona 500 on February 26th 2017. The very next race at Atlanta he would pick up his first top 10th finish with a 7th place run. Four races after that, he had his first top 5 at Martinsville. A month after that he nearly got his first win but just lost to a tiebreaker in Talladega.
Todd wouldn't win in the regular season but his performance was good enough that he made the playoffs on points and entered as the 14th seed. He barely made it through to the second round as the 12th seeded player. In the second round he finally won his first career Cup race and it came at Talladega, the same track that he lost that tiebreaker. That moved him into the third round.
He had a strong round three with a top 5 finish at Martinsville, top 10 at Texas and 11th place at Phoenix. That put Todd into the championship four against Kelly Wolfe, Ray Perrotta and Fred Sanchez. The four drivers struggled at Homestead but Todd's 19th place finish put him ahead of the other three and he became the 3rd rookie to win a Cup championship. The rookie of the year race was only between Todd and Nate Bishop but Todd would have won his third rookie of the year title regardless of how many players were participating.
In 2017, Todd won his first Cup championship, but he was also competing for one in the Xfinity series. Like the Cup series, Todd had a strong season and made it all the way to the championship four. He picked up two more wins that year as well. Unfortunately he did not have the same luck and finished 4th that year. He used all his luck up in those two series because he struggled to a 21st place finish in the Truck series.
In 2018, he didn't have much luck in either the Xfinity or Truck series after finishing 19th and 24th. He only earned one win between the both of them with a victory in the final race of the Truck series season. Instead, Todd's skill shone again in the Cup series after winning at Chicagoland which secured himself another spot in the playoffs.
Like the previous season, he didn't have a good first round but he made it through to round 2 and picked up 2 top 5's. He won the opening race of round three at Martinsville which put him into the championship four again. This time he faced off against Lou Demian, Paul Scannell and Curt Manning. The playoff drivers did well in the race so Todd needed a much better finish and he got it to finish in 2nd place. He became the 2nd player to win back to back championships.
The 2019 season was nearly a duplicate of the previous year except Todd did a little better in the Xfinity series and made the playoffs for the third time. Unfortunately he was eliminated in the first round and finished 13th. He finished a little better in the Truck series but ultimately missed the playoffs and finished 19th. He went winless in those two series as well.
Once again Todd would devote his focus to the Cup series and this year was his best. He won two races at Auto Club Speedway and Pocono and for the first time would finish the regular season as champion after leading the standings for the final seven weeks.
Todd didn't light it up during the rounds except for a 2nd place finish at Phoenix but he made it through to the championship four again. This season he would face off against Jose Rodriguez, Lou Demian again and Harry Jeffery. Todd finished 8th at Homestead and was the only championship driver in the top 20. He made history by becoming the first driver to win three straight championships and he did it in his first three years in the series.
Todd probably would have made the Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible after winning two championships, but three was the icing on the cake. So he makes history once again after becoming the first person inducted after just 5 years in the league and broke a record with the amount of votes that he received. He received a total of 32 votes from league members which eclipses the previous amount of 22 votes for Stephen DiCaprio. Todd was also the first member who was unanimously voted in by the committee members.
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Career Highlights
2016-2019 Seasons
Cup Series
Won Championships in 2017, 2018 & 2019
First player to win three total championships and three in a row
Won Rookie of the Year in 2017
Won regular season championship in 2019
Won most valuable teammate in 2019
Won Chaser Eraser in 2017
Finished with best standings average in 2017 & 2019
Finished with best race points average in 2017
Finished with best average finish in 2017 & 2019
108 starts
5 victories
18 top 5's
35 top 10's
Made the Playoffs three times
Xfinity Series
Won Rookie of the Year in 2016
Finished in the top 10 two times
132 starts
4 victories
8 top 5's
18 top 10's
Made the playoffs three times
Truck Series
Won Rookie of the Year in 2015
Finished in the top 10 one time
115 starts
3 victories
16 top 5's
23 top 10's
LROC Series
Qualified for the series under LDR 2 times
1 victory
30 starts
7 top 5's
16 top 10's
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