TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Gilliland Just Glad To Be Back With A Team

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2009

FONTANA, Calif. - David Gilliland has one of those classic good news-bad news situations.

After two full seasons in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series, and spending most of that time with Yates Racing and in the top 35 in car owner points, Gilliland finds himself with a brand new Cup team and having to qualify for races on speed.

Yates Racing told Gilliland in January, but they made his departure official earlier in the week, sending out a release that said a lack of sponsorship on the team's No. 38 Ford led to the driver's departure.

"David did a great job for us and is a gifted driver," Doug Yates said. "We are sorry to lose him, but it is important for David to continue driving and sponsorship is very tough this year."

Gilliland, who has two top-fives and four top-10s in 87 Cup starts, found work with the new TRG Motorsports team headed by Kevin Buckler. But not until after Mike Wallace fell just short of putting the team in the Daytona 500.

One of 12 drivers vying for eight starting spots at Fontana, Gilliland qualified 32nd for Sunday's Auto Club.

"I'm a little nervous coming back," the 33-year-old Gilliland said. "I always have a few nerves. I haven't been out of the top 34 for a while. It's nerve-racking. During qualifying, you think one slip or pushing too hard could make you go home."

Buckler, who also fields a Camping World Series truck and a car in the ARCA series, only has sponsorship lined up for the first five Cup races of 2009. But he said TRG has hired Gilliland and veteran crew chief Slugger Labbe to help build the team a full-time Cup program.

"David has the most experience in the COT Car of Tomorrow of any driver available," Buckler said. "Slugger gives us a lot of experience working with the COT car. We were short a few pieces at Daytona, but I believe we have put the right people together to have a successful weekend."

But Buckler is focused well beyond the Auto Club 500.

"We are pulling out all of the stops to make the next three races," Buckler said. "We want to be in the top 35 in owner points by the time we finish Bristol. ... The water is deep in NASCAR and we are not afraid to dive in with the sharks, but we have a very steep learning curve ahead of us and we will do our best.

"We took a big hit at Daytona by not making the race, but we have taken that and turned it into determination. Everyone involved sees the upside and wants to keep our foot firmly planted on the accelerator to turn this into a full season."

BIG CHANCE

Jeff Gordon believes the reeling economy could offer an unusual opportunity for success to some of the new teams getting involved in NASCAR. The reason: NASCAR's 2-year-old Car of Tomorrow.

The COT has standardized the cars, taking away a lot of the tweaks and gimmicks that the big-budget teams were able to use to put some distance between themselves and the have-nots.

"With this car, there has never been a better opportunity for teams with less funding, maybe less personnel, to be able to pull off some spectacular finishes and maybe even a win," Gordon said.

But, even with NASCAR banning testing at sanctioned tracks, Gordon acknowledges the top teams still have a big advantage.

"While the economy has affected some of the teams further down in the field, the teams that were strong last year have only gotten stronger and, in that sense, it's only going to be more competitive toward the front of the field," Gordon said.

"I think you're actually going to see it tighter and faster and more competitive at the front of the field."

The Associated Press

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT