It’s the stuff of Hollywood scripts. On June 17, 2006 at Kentucky- an unknown driver from California pilots a car for a struggling team to a Busch Series victory, one that broadcaster Hermie Sadler labeled as the “greatest upset in Busch Series history.” David Gilliland, who had struggles of his own out of the gate, served notice he was ready to make some noise. That season’s victory in the Busch Series was the first that year for a driver who was not also running full-time at the Cup level.
Chronicling what has happened since, you can certainly say Gilliland has had a knack for making things happen, even if they haven’t always been good.
David Gilliland was born April 1, 1976 in Chino Hills, California. Like so many other NASCAR drivers, David hails from a racing family. You longtime NASCAR fans may remember Butch Gilliland, who made 10 starts on NASCAR’s senior circuit between 1990 and 1999. That’s David’s dad. While the elder Gilliland was unable to carve a niche on the big stage, he enjoyed success in the Winston West Series as 1997 champion and he was also voted “Most Popular Driver” in 1997 and 1999.
The younger Gilliland got his start doing mechanical work on his dad’s cars and he had become a crew chief by the age of 19. In fact, when Butch won his 1997 championship, David Gilliland was named “Crew Chief of The Year.”
In 1998, David started doing a little racing of his own out at Perris, California Speedway. In just 7 starts, he hauled in a pair of victories. The following year, Gilliland won an impressive 9 of out 15 main event races in the stock car division.
Earlier in his decade, Gilliland continued making his climb. He formed his own late model team and by 2003, he placed 6th in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division with 5 trips to victory lane and 8 top 10s to his credit. In 2004, at age 28, David was awarded “Rookie Of The Year” in the AutoZone West Series, in that same year, he won at Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield, the former stomping grounds of Kevin Harvick.
Gilliland raced full-time on the AutoZone West circuit in 2005, finishing 4th in final standings. He won a race to go with 9 top 5s. At Irwindale Speedway in California, the “Golden State” native won the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown. Gilliland also made an inconspicuous Busch Series debut- qualifying 38th and finishing dead last at Phoenix. Around this time, the former high school golf teammate of Tiger Woods also dabbled in the Craftsman Truck Series- failing to get into the Las Vegas 350 in 2003, but successful in racing for Billy Ballew in the #15 ride in 2005- finishing 22nd at the Nevada track. In the second Busch (now Nationwide) Series race, Gilliland also finished 43rd due to mechanical issues.
Eager to take on bigger challenges, David Gilliland moved his family East to North Carolina in 2006. Clay Andrews put Gilliland in the #84 Chevy. The rookie drew a lot of praise from the likes of Darrell Waltrip, but he really wouldn’t hit paydirt until that unlikely victory at Kentucky. Just 8 days after his junior circuit win, Gilliland made his Cup debut at Infineon Raceway for CJM Racing, a team owned by Bryan Mullett. On June 25, 2006, he finished 32nd after qualifying 31st on the road course in the #72.
Opportunity came knocking for David Gilliland in mid-August of 2006. Elliott Sadler was leaving the #38 ride at Robert Yates Racing and the veteran owner offered it to Gilliland. In his 9th career start, he got his first pole- grabbing the honors for the Fall Talladega race. In 14 starts, he made little else in the way of headlines besides his pole, but Gilliland managed to do a good job of finishing races with only one DNF marked against him.
2007 certainly looked promising enough for David Gilliland at the outset. Now joined at Yates by the veteran “Iron Man” Ricky Rudd, David earned pole position at the Daytona 500 ultimately won by fellow West Coaster Kevin Harvick.
While Gilliland picked up a top 5 and a pair of top 10s, he did make the first in a series of unwanted headlines when he collided with Tony Stewart in practice at Michigan. According to Stewart, he had no idea Gilliland would be going low and recevied no communication of David’s intentions when the two got into each other. “Smoke” took occasion to infer that David wasn’t ready for prime-time, citing incidents at Talladega and a prior wreck at Las Vegas involving Casey Mears. When asked by a SPEED reporter whether or not he would go and talk to Stewart, Gilliland said, “No. I ain’t gonna go talk to him. He got into the back of me.” Kyle Petty was in the booth that day, and indicated the incident had to do with two racers with differing agendas. Stewart had just put “stickers” on his #20 and Gilliland was out on an extended run with older tires. A look at the video suggests the #38 got a little wobbly and Smoke wasn’t expecting a sudden move downward by Gilliland. He ended up the season 28th in the points.
2008 was a somewhat troubled season from the “get go” for Gilliland. Yates Racing had difficulties finding sponsors for David and his new teammate Travis Kvapil. Eventually, Free Credit Report- dot com got on board with the “38″ and they certainly got some attention. Gilliland got into dust-ups with Matt Kenseth at Martinsville, Michael Mc Dowell at Watkins-Glen and he also crashed with Juan Pablo Montoya. Now you know you’re headed for the NASCAR doghouse when people start cheering for Montoya over you, knowing some of the scrapes JPM had been in previously. These on-track incidents overshadowed a great run by the “38″ at Infineon. Gilliland took second place behind Kyle Busch on his home turf. Overall, Gilliland moved up in the points to 27th. Gilliland registered that lone top 5 at Sonoma to go with 2 top 10s.
No one will ever accuse NASCAR of being a place for wimps. Gilliland will face negative attention from fans as well as pressure to improve his performance in a precarious climate for teams and sponsors. He’s shown he can win at other levels, the question remains now one of whether or not he’s learning anything in his early NASCAR career.
When he’s not racing, David Gilliland enjoys boating and spending time with his wife Michelle and their two kids, Todd and Taylor.
(Photo courtesy of purduenila. You may find more of her photos at www.flckr.com)
This post is in the continuing series of NASCAR Driver Profiles on Bump Drafts. Prior to today’s post, profiles have been done on A.J. Allmendinger, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Dave Blaney, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Carl Edwards.
