FANTASY NASCAR Racin

a NASCAR driver and previously drove the Taco Bell Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports. He is the son of former Cup and West Coast driver Butch Gilliland. 2003 saw Gilliland make his first NASCAR start. It would come in the Truck Series in 2005 at Las Vegas. He started 30th and finished 22nd completing the entire event. Gilliland made his first start in the Cup Division in 2006 running 15 races but only posting a best finish of 15th at Atlanta and Talladega. In August 2006, Gilliland replaced Elliott Sadler as the driver of the M&M's Ford in the NASCAR Cup Series. On October 7, he qualified on the pole for the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Super Speedway, the first pole of his career. He also 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 Xfinity and Cup owners. The highlight of his year came in the Xfinity Series as he would have an impressive run and bypassing JJ Yeley with 11 laps to go to score the upset win. He also beat out such Cup stars as Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, and Clint Bowyer. He parlayed that win into a full time Cup ride in 2007 driving for Yates Racing in the #38 M&M's Ford. He started

the season on the pole and finished eighth. His only top five would be a fourth place run at Talladega. Since that time Gilliland has struggled. His only two top five finishes came at Daytona in 2011 (3rd) and in 2013 at Talladega (2nd). In 2015 Gilliland drove the #38 Love's Travel Stops Ford for owner Bob Jenkins; but was replaced by Landon Cassill. Headed into 2016, Gilliland found himself without a ride; but did drive two races for Bob Jenkins in a third team car. He seemed to step away from driving and concentrated more in providing a ride for his son Todd. David made just ten starts from 2018 through 2021 and he

nurtured Todd along. In 2018 Todd got a full time ride and in 2021 is moving up full time to the Cup Series. So David's efforts appear to have paid off. David ran three races in the Truck Series in 2021. He ran at Daytona and finished 14th. He also raced at Las Vegas and Darlington where he crashed out. 2022 saw him busy as the team owner as he improved his team with some quality drivers. But, Gilliland dusted off his old drivers uniform to make two starts in the Truck series in 2023. At Charlotte, he started ninth and ran a good clean race, finishing 14th. His other start came at Talladega. He took the green from the eleventh spot and ran well, finishing in the Top 10 in stage

one. But he got caught up in a incident with Stewart Friesen and was sidelined for the event. He ended up 35th. Not sure if he’ll race any in 2024. For his career Gilliland made 333 Cup starts with four Top 5's and best finishes of second at Sonoma and Talladega over 12 seasons. He ran 56 Xfinity races with the lone surprise win coming at Kentucky. In the Truck series he has made sporadic starts eighth seasons. In his 22 starts he has three Top 5 finishes, with his best being a second at Talladega in 2018. Gilliland remained a NASCAR car owner even after son Todd moved up to Cup. He has provided quality rides in the Truck series for several drivers. To find out more about Gilliland as a owner, go David Gilliland Racing; and then see TRICON Garage under the Car Owners link. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

DAVID LEONARD GILLILAND - 04/01/1976