Home Sweet Home For Gilliland

David Gilliland currently drives the No. 38 ModSpace Ford Fusion for Front Row Motorsports. He is the son of former Cup and West Coast driver Butch Gilliland. He was born in Riverside, California. David Gilliland was the 2004 NASCAR West Series Rookie of the Year AND the champion crew chief for his dad Butch in 1997.

David Gilliland tastes victory for the second time at Sonoma (Calif.) in NASCAR K&N
Pro Series West action on Saturday in the Pick-n-Pull Racing To Stop Hunger 200.
(Getty Images for NASCAR)

California Driver Collects Second Career Sonoma Win

By Shon Sbarra, NASCAR
June 23, 2012 - 7:01pm
 

 

SONOMA, Calif. – David Gilliland used his experience on the road course at Sonoma to win the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Pick-n-Pull Racing To Stop Hunger 200 on Saturday.

It was a special win and weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular out of Riverside, Calif. On Thursday evening he introduced his father, Butch, who was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. On Saturday, he collected his second K&N Pro Series win at the twisting 1.99-mile track, to match the two wins his father had there.

“We really had a great car today,” said the driver of the No. 25 Pick-n-Pull Chevrolet. “Track position is so important here and we were able to win that today.”

Gilliland, who competed at Sonoma as a winning crew chief with his father, expressed his infinity for the track and the race.

POS	DRIVER
1	David Gilliland
2	Derek Thorn
3	Greg Pursley
4	Jim Inglebright
5	Dylan Kwasniewski

“It’s an awesome race track for me,” Gilliland said. “I love it and love coming out here and racing. I’m originally from California. So I love coming out here and seeing my family and friends. It’s a very special race for me. It really means a lot for me to come out here and win and to have my dad and my family here.

“My dad has had a lot of success out here and I’ve had a lot of success our here as a crew chief and different things,” he said. “I got my career best (Sprint) Cup finish here; I finished second.”

Derek Thorn, in his first start at the track, followed Gilliland to a second-place finish while defending series champion Greg Pursley crossed the line in third. Jim Inglebright was fourth, followed by points leader Dylan Kwasniewski in the fifth position.

“I’ve never been here before,” Thorn said. “Working with the guys from the Sunrise Ford team, it was a consistent learning experience. As I made laps, I tried to make myself better. The car has always been underneath me. It’s just a matter of me catching up to it with the little amount of road-course experience I have.

“We had one final shot with Gilliland at the end,” Thorn said. “Following him helped me learn some stuff. With the experience he has, he was able to pull away from me a little bit. It was awesome to run up front like that. The whole combination of our team came together today. Second place, for this being my first time here, we’re ecstatic.”

Pursley, who won the pole in qualifying on Friday, led the first 23 laps before making his pit stop for fuel.

“We elected not to come in and pit on Lap 18,” he said. “It was a little too tight for us to go. The two front guys that got first and second did pit on that (caution). We elected not to. We were hoping it was going to go green flag, like it did the first half of the race and they would probably be in trouble if it did. But they got the cautions they needed.

“Track position is everything here and it put us back a little bit,” Pursley said. “We came out of here with third. It’s our best finish.”

Michael Self, Jonathon Gomez, Austin Cameron, David Mayhew and Cameron Hayley completed the top 10. Three-time series champion Eric Holmes led 13 laps, but his day ended early when smoke erupted from his car. He finished 23rd.

The race featured three lead changes among four drivers - Gilliland, Pursley, Mayhew and Holmes. The pace was slowed by four cautions for 14 laps.

In the championship standings, Pursley closed to within eight points of his teammate Kwasniewski - 345 to 337. Mayhew is third with 317, followed by Thorn at 307 and Holmes at 281. Rounding out the top 10 are Gomez at 274, Self at 268, Hayley at 268, Austin Dyne at 256 and Ryan Philpott at 229.

The Pick-N-Pull Racing To Stop Hunger 200 will air on SPEED on July 12 at 3 p.m. ET.

The next event on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West schedule is the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Gene Price Motorsports at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., on July 14.

LAP-BY-LAP RECAP | RESULTS | DEREK THORN POST-RACE AUDIO | GREG PURSLEY POST-RACE AUDIO

David Gilliland (No. 25) charges back into the lead on a late race restart.
(Getty Images for NASCAR)

Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation aims to kick cancer out of every childhood

 

Charlotte, N.C. – Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation and Kick-It will be teaming up on the kickball field by challenging supporters to kick cancer out of every childhood once and for all. 

Kick-It is a national grassroots fundraising game that was started by Quinn Clarke, a cancer survivor who wanted to make a difference in every child diagnosed with cancer. Kick-It brings community, family, friends and co-workers together to raise money for childhood cancer research. The concept is easy—kick the ball, run the bases and score big in the fight against pediatric cancer.

“I am really excited about this new partnership,” said Jeff Gordon. “We are confident this will take childhood cancer to the forefront and bring it the awareness and funding it deserves. I can’t wait to Kick-It in September when I host my won game in Atlanta.

“And, in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month I will be personally matching all funds raised for games played on behalf of the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation during the month of September.”

Additionally, Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation has launched a new social media campaign centered on the Kick-It program called “I’m Kicking-It”. To participate, download the Kick-It sign, write your reason to support the initiative and upload it to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation Facebook page.

“I’m Kicking-It” campaign will feature people from all walks of life who support the cause, from pediatric cancer patients to professional athletes. Then each week, Gordon will pick his favorite “I’m Kicking It” reason.

“We truly admire Jeff Gordon’s commitment to children with cancer. Our son, Quinn Clarke, founded Kick-It with the dream to raise enough money to find a cure. He is beyond excited that Jeff Gordon is kicking it with him and the 13,500 children diagnosed with cancer every year,” said Allison Clarke, Founder of Flashes of Hope and mother of Quinn Clarke.

For more information visit www.jeffgordonchildrensfoundation.org or www.kick-it.org/jeffgordon.

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Matt Kenseth, here with his daughter, is getting ready to race his son.

Tuesday night, Roush Fenway Racing's Matt Kenseth is set to take on the ASA Midwest Tour field at the Milwaukee Mile. Running against him? His son, Ross.

This race will make the third time the Daytona 500 winner has raced again his son.

Ross Kenseth is working on building a racing career while attending Clemson University. He won nine times in 2011 and has already claimed a victory in 2012 when he won the Orange Blossom Special at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C., in April.

“I think it's going to be the biggest short track race in years up in Wisconsin,”  Matt Kenseth said. "It will be a pretty cool race and a really big event. I’m excited to go race in the event this year, but it really all came together after we had an extra car in the shop, and I just decided that it would be fun to set it up and race it a few times this summer.”

The two are among the 80 entries for the race. So how does Matt feel about racing his son?

“Of course I want him to do well and I always hope that he’ll outrace me, but I don’t race him any differently than anyone else. Ross has been doing well with his racing career," he said. "He had a lot going on catching up from this winter and us moving our shop down to North Carolina, but he’s been working hard and has already won a race this year.”

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Ella Gordon Shows Her Excitement For Papa

Ella Gordon cheers for her Papa (Jeff Gordon) while watching the race in Charlotte.

To support the Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation, visit http://www.jeffgordonchildrensfoundation.org.

Prelude to the Dream - Supports "Feed The Children"

One of the biggest NASCAR-oriented charity events of the season will take place Wednesday night as 12 Sprint Cup drivers participate in the 26-driver field for Prelude To The Dream invitational at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway.

 

Competing in Dirt Late Model cars on the half-mile track, the race will raise funds for the charity Feed The Children. The funds are raised through sales of the telecast on HBO Pay-Per-View. 

The three-time Cup champion Stewart has held the event for charity since 2005. He owns Eldora Speedway. 

“It’s great for us as competitors because we get a chance to go out and do something that we don’t get the chance to do all season long with each other,” Stewart said. 

“There are a lot of us drivers who get a chance to race at dirt tracks or run at Late Model pavement tracks across the country, but we never get to do it together as a group.” 

The Cup drivers participating are Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, David Gilliland, Dave Blaney and J.J. Yeley. 

Other drivers scheduled to participate are part-time Cup drivers Kenny Schrader and Bill Elliott; former team owner and crew chief Ray Evernham; Nationwide Series drivers Danica Patrick, Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier and Kenny Wallace; Camping World Truck Series drivers Jason Leffler and Ty Dillon; IndyCar Series driver Tony Kannan; NHRA drivers Ron Capps and Cruz Pedregon; and World of Outlaws drivers Steve Kinser and Donny Schatz. 

Patrick, who is in the midst of her transition from IndyCar to NASCAR, has never raced a car on dirt. “When I heard that you get sideways when you get out of the throttle, I thought, ‘Well, that just sounds like fun,’” she said. “So I think it’s just going to come from running it. “And, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how I do. It just matters that we’re all there, and that we’re putting on a good show.”

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