David Gilliland
David Gilliland (born on April 1, 1976 in Riverside, California) is a NASCAR driver. He currently drives the #84 Clay Andrews Racing Chevy in the Busch Series on a limited basis. Also, he drove the #72 CJM Racing Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway in June 2006. He is the son of former Cup and West Coast driver Butch Gilliland. He is mentored by former Nextel Cup winner Jerry Nadeau.
Career before NASCAR
In 1996, he began working on his father's Winston West Series team. By 1999, Gilliland won the track championship at Perris Speedway. Then, the following year he began a limited season in the Winston West Series.
In 2003, Gilliland won five races in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Series in the #11 Centrifugal Technologies Ford. 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 races. He won his first NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series win at Mesa Marin Speedway, in his home city. 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 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 last-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.
Gilliland began running the #84 Clay Andrews Chevy part-time in 2006, where he drew praise from many veterans, including announcer Darrell Waltrip. 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". It was also big, because Gilliland made up ground late in the race, recovering from a series of bad pit stops to take the lead in dramatic fashion.
Gilliland made his first attempt to make a Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA, in the #72 CJM Racing Chevrolet. He qualified for the team's first race, qualifying 31st, and finishing 32nd. Report from jayski [1] states that Gilliand will take over in the #38 Ford in Nextel Cup owned by Robert Yates Racing in 2007.
Races Won
Busch Series (1 career win)
- 2006 ( 1 win ) Meijer 300 presented by Oreo (Kentucky)