Gilliland hearing from team owners about future
By Mark AshenfelterIt's a new week and a new challenge for David Gilliland. And although simply making the field at Infineon Raceway this weekend might seem like a daunting task, at least Gilliland has momentum on his side.
After all, a non-Nextel Cup Series driver running a limited Busch Series schedule isn't supposed to be successful in the Busch Series, let alone qualify for a Cup race. And Gilliland showed last week at Kentucky Speedway that he can be competitive in the Busch Series.
Gilliland sent shock waves through NASCAR when he became the first non-Cup regular to win a Busch race this season, stopping an 0-for-15 skid some figured might last the entire 35-race schedule. That he did it with a part-time team -- Clay Andrews Racing -- made it all the more shocking.
So trying to make his Cup debut with CJM Racing, another new team, is just another step along the way for the 30-year-old from Riverside, Calif. Perhaps best known until Saturday night as the son of Butch Gilliland, a noted racer and former Winston West Series champion, David's driving career began in earnest in 1998.
That was the year after he served as crew chief on his father's championship team. At 21, he was the youngest champion crew chief in the series' history.
In other words, challenges are nothing new for Gilliland, who has spent part of the time since his breakthrough win making sure it really wasn't just a dream gone wild.
"We've worked our whole lives for that and an opportunity like this," Gilliland said of the win. "It's just really opened a lot of doors for us, I think. It's just been great for our team. We've been running unsponsored, and hopefully this will help bring some attention our way."
It remains to be seen whether more sponsorship will find its way to Clay Andrews Racing, but the driver is under the radar no longer. With a number of Cup teams looking for drivers for 2007, Gilliland is now among those being talked about.
A week ago, that probably wasn't the case. But a lot can change after 300 miles at Kentucky Speedway. Now, owners are looking at a driver who built his own Late Model to race at Irwindale and Mesa Marin in his native California. By 2002, he was running NASCAR's Southwest Tour, where he won in his fourth start.
In '03, driving for someone else but still working on the cars, Gilliland won five times. Moving to the West Series in 2004, he won in his second start and was the series' top rookie. He ran the West Series again last year and won the Toyota All-Star Showdown at season's end.
What comes next is anyone's guess, but he's welcoming the opportunity.
"I've gotten some pretty good phone calls, pretty neat," Gilliland said. "You know, you race your whole life for an opportunity and to try and succeed in NASCAR racing. To see it all coming true before your eyes is a pretty amazing sight."
His win at Kentucky will be talked about plenty at Sonoma, but his focus will be on getting a Dodge owned by Bryan and Tony Mullet into the show. The two partnered with Morgan Shepherd earlier, before branching out with a part-time schedule that begins this weekend.
Although Gilliland's in the car at Sonoma, the team plans to try other drivers to find the right fit for what it hopes will be a full-time effort next year. Gilliland's appearance had been set before Kentucky, so this is simply a matter of perfect timing for all involved.
"I ran pretty good there [Sonoma] in some Southwest Tour stuff. We had a victory, and I'm really looking forward to going back there," Gilliland said. "Hopefully, with everything last weekend, we'll be able to go out there [and qualify]."
Former Cup driver Jerry Nadeau serves as a consultant to Clay Andrews Racing, which is led by crew chief Bill Wilburn, but the time Gilliland spent working with his father -- who made 10 Cup starts and 12 in the Craftsman Truck Series while racing predominantly in the West Series -- also was influential.
"He really helped me a lot when I was younger," Gilliland said. "I grew up around racing, so I thank him very much for that, obviously, and being around it every week from the first time as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to race, and growing up around him racing, he gave me the ability to work on the cars and go to the track and kind of learn how things work.
"Then, when I was 18, I split away and did my own thing. I started racing for somebody else and got my own deal going. But he's always there ... he doesn't come to a lot of the races, but he's a phone call away and always calls when we do something. He's always there to support us."
Just as David supported his father while working as his crew chief. Now, it's the son who's dreaming of winning a championship.
"The reason we got there was because of hard work and determination, and that is one thing that I got from him," Gilliland said. "And always -- he always told me, 'You know if you work hard enough, you can get anything you want with hard work.' Our win on Saturday night was a true testament to that, I feel.
"Our team didn't win because we spent the most money and didn't win because we had the most horsepower; we didn't win because of our pit stops. We won because everybody on our team is 150 percent dedicated to what they do and our race team. It's good for NASCAR to show that hard work and a little guy can still come through and get it done."
Gilliland still has a long way to go to achieve his goals of Cup stardom, but a lot of ground already has been covered. While owners have taken notice, so have drivers such as Robby Gordon -- who owns his own Cup team.
"That's quite an accomplishment. I think that's really, really cool," Gordon said. "And I think, you know, for teams like myself, I know we won Busch races; I think it took us 20 races to win, and they did it in seven. And you know, it proves that if you do the basics right, you can still be competitive in this sport."
Mark Ashenfelter is an associate editor at NASCAR Scene magazine, which has a Web site at www.scenedaily.com
