David Gilliland

David Gilliland
Born	(1976-04-01) April 1, 1976 Riverside, California, United States
Awards	2004 NASCAR West Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
233 race(s) run over 8 year(s)
Car no., team	No. 38 (Front Row Motorsports)
2012 position	30th
Best finish	27th (2008)
First race	2006 Dodge/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma)
Last race	2013 Southern 500 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 7 2
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
56 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Best finish	39th (2007)
First race	2005 Bashas' Supermarkets 200 (Phoenix)
Last race	2010 Ford 300 (Homestead)
First win	2006 Meijer 300 (Kentucky)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 3 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
3 race(s) run over 2 year(s)
Best finish	65th (2009)
First race	2005 Las Vegas 350 (Las Vegas)
Last race	2009 WinStar World Casino 350K (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
Statistics current as of May 11, 2013.

David Gilliland (born April 1, 1976) is an American stock car racing driver. He currently drives the No. 38 Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He is the son of former Cup and West Coast driver Butch Gilliland. He was born in Riverside, California.

NASCAR Regional Career

In 1996, he began working on his father's AutoZone West Series team. By 1999, Gilliland won the track championship at Perris Auto Speedway (a dirt track). Then, the following year he began a limited season in the NASCAR AutoZone West Series. In 2003, Gilliland won five races in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series in the #11 Centrifugal Technologies Chevrolet. He finished the season with five top-fives and eight top-tens and a 6th place finish in points.

In 2004, Gilliland announced plans to run the full schedule in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series in the No. 88 Chevrolet for MRG Motorsports and all non-conflicting NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series (now AutoZone West) races. He won his first AutoZone West win at Mesa Marin Raceway. He was then NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series Rookie-of-the-Year. He also had two victories in NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series.

NASCAR National Career

Gilliland made his first attempt at a major NASCAR race in 2003, at the Las Vegas 350 in the Craftsman Truck Series, but failed to qualify. He announced that Clay Andrews Racing would form in mid-2005. Gilliland made his Busch Series debut at Phoenix, qualifying 28th. However, he was involved with an early crash and finished 43rd. Gilliland made the other Phoenix race later in the year, but had the same result. He was 43rd after ignition troubles. Also, he ran the #15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy at Vegas in the Craftsman Truck Series with a 22nd place finish.

Meanwhile, Gilliland raced in the Grand National Division in 2005 and won the Toyota All-Star Showdown in 2005 when apparent winner Mike Olson was disqualified for light wheels wider than regulation. The win was his biggest of date because it allowed him to be noticed by Busch and Cup owners.

Gilliland began running the #84 Clay Andrews Chevy part-time in 2006, during which time he was mentored by former Sprint Cup race winner Jerry Nadeau. Gilliland, however, struggled to finish races, only earning a best of 29th in his first four starts of the year. However, in his next outing, Gilliland scored his first career Busch Series win at Kentucky on June 17. Gilliland drove the 84 Hype Manufacturing Chevrolet to victory, becoming the first driver of 2006 to win a Busch race who was not also running a full-time Nextel Cup schedule. FX television announcer Hermie Sadler called the victory "the biggest upset in Busch Series history".

Sprint Cup Series

2007 M&M's car

Gilliland made his first attempt to make a Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, in the #72 CJM Racing Chevrolet, qualifying 31st, and finishing 32nd. In August 2006, Gilliland replaced Elliott Sadler as the driver of the M&M's Ford in the NEXTEL Cup Series. In qualifying for the 2007 Aaron's 499 on April 28, Gilliland recorded a speed of 192.069 miles per hour (309.105 km/h), which was identical to Jeff Gordon for the pole position. As Gordon had the points lead at the time of the race, Gilliland started the race in 2nd. On October 7, he qualified on the pole for the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first pole of his career. He won his second career pole at the Daytona 500, his first points-paying race at the track, and finished 28th in NEXTEL Cup points. Gilliland drove part-time in the Busch Series for Team Rensi Motorsports with sponsorship from FreeCreditReport.com in 2007, splitting the driving duties at Rensi with rookie Richard Johns. His best finish was a tenth at Daytona. In 2008, FreeCreditReport became his Cup sponsor and he had two top ten finishes.

In January 2009, his #38 Sprint Cup team was closed due to a lack of sponsorship and his points from 2008 were moved to the #96 team of Bobby Labonte. After missing the Daytona 500, he was hired by TRG Motorsports for the rest of the 2009 season, with sponsorship from Capital Window and American Monster.

On September 18, 2009, Gilliland's future was thrown into question following TRG's announcement that Bobby Labonte would drive the #71 Chevrolet for seven of the final twelve races of the season while Erik Darnell drives the #96 Ford. Gilliland raced five additional times for TRG last season, also driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports. He drove for the Wood Brothers (filling in for Bill Elliott) at Atlanta and for Gibbs at Lowe's, Texas, and the season finale at Homestead. At Auto Club Speedway in October, Gilliland relieved a sick Kyle Busch after parking his normal ride. He raced in Phoenix for Phoenix Racing. At the end of the 2009 season, he left TRG Motorsports and joins FRM.

In 2010, Gilliland will drive a majority of the season with Front Row Motorsports in a third car, with his old number 38, and got new numbers 34, and 37. He attempted the Daytona 500 for BAM Racing and failed to qualify. His best finish came at Martinsville and Sonoma, a 19th at both tracks.

He returned to Front Row Motorsports in 2011, to the Taco Bell car. He finished 3rd in the Daytona 500, Front Row's best finish to that point, and finished in the top 10 later that year at Talladega as well. For 2012, he has moved to the team's No. 38 car. Gilliland and his team have received a multi-race sponsorship from Modspace for the 2012 racing season.

In 2013, at the spring Talladega race, Gilliland pushed FRM teammate David Ragan to victory in a green-white-checkered finish that saw Gilliland notch a career-best finish of 2nd, giving FRM a stunning 1-2 finish in the race.

Personal life

Gilliland was a high-school golf teammate of Tiger Woods at Western High School in Anaheim.

He is married to wife Michelle and the couple have two children, Todd and Taylor.

Career results

* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Year	Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings	Position	Team(s)
2006	15	0	0	0	1	22.1	28.3	$1,564,901	42nd	CJM Racing Yates Racing
2007	36	0	1	2	1	27.7	27.4	$4,330,838	28th	Yates Racing
2008	36	0	1	2	0	29.8	26.2	$3,764,088	27th	Yates Racing
2009	31	0	0	0	0	29.0	33.9	$2,535,004	37th	TRG Motorsports Wood Brothers Racing Robby Gordon Motorsports Joe Gibbs Racing Phoenix Racing
2010	32	0	0	0	0	36.0	29.3	$3,035,140	32nd	Front Row Motorsports
2011	36	0	1	2	0	34.7	28.2	$3,878,387	30th	Front Row Motorsports
2012*	26	0	0	0	0	32.9	26.8	$2,624,873	28th	Front Row Motorsports

NASCAR Nationwide Series

Year	Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings	Position	Team(s)
2005	2	0	0	0	0	34.0	43.0	$31,229	127th	Golembeski Racing Clay Andrews Racing
2006	9	1	1	1	0	22.6	28.1	$265,675	56th	Clay Andrews Racing Yates Racing
2007	19	0	0	1	0	21.5	26.4	$407,870	39th	Team Rensi Motorsports
2008	3	0	0	0	0	23.7	30.3	$82,695	95th	Richardson-Haas Motorsports Baker Curb Racing
2009	6	0	0	1	0	5.7	17.2	$160,246	63rd	Team 42 Racing Phoenix Racing
2010	17	0	0	0	0	20.3	38.6	$274,278	48th	D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports Team 42 Racing

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Year	Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Poles	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings	Position	Team(s)
2005	1	0	0	0	0	30.0	22.0	$8,640	79th	Billy Ballew Motorsports
2009	2	0	0	1	0	12.0	20.5	$20,825	65th	TRG Motorsports ThorSport Racing

External links

• Official website
• David Gilliland driver statistics at Racing Reference