Statesville, N.C. (May 17, 2011) - David Gilliland looks forward to turning the clock backward, so to speak. The driver of the No. 34 Taco Bell Ford compares this weekend's Sprint Showdown to old-fashioned Saturday night racing from his early racing days, where every car competed for the win and no one worried about points. Saturday night's non-points, 40-lap shootout at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway will be reminiscent of those times, when Gilliland competes for one of the two finishing positions that will advance to the Sprint All-Star Race immediately following the Showdown.
The race consists of two 20-lap segments, with a caution period in between to allow for pit stops. The first- and second-place finishers advance to the All-Star race, in addition to the top finisher in a fan vote.
The Taco Bell team is coming off a 22nd-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, with Gilliland earning Front Row's history-best finish at the "Monster Mile."
Comments from Taco Bell team driver David Gilliland on the Showdown and the All-Star Race:
"The Showdown is kind of like old, Saturday-night racing. For once in our long season, we don't have to worry about points and all that. You just go in there for one reason and one reason only - to win. And we're definitely in it to win it.
"We had a chance to win last year. We stayed out for the second segment without pitting and restarted third, and we were going for it. But it's always a wild race and things did get wild and we wound up making contact and getting knocked out of contention. But our Taco Bell Ford was good. It's just one of those races where anything can happen. We definitely have the cars and the motors to be able to do it this year. It's an exciting race and, like I said, it gets wild. But wild is fun.
"I'm excited for it. We've been working through some issues in our mile-and-a-half program this year. We've had decent speed, but had some tire issues that we think we've resolved. So, I'm really anxious to get there and get that race under our belt. I know we can be competitive, and a good finish will be a big boost for us.
"We took a big step forward last week at Dover. We had a pretty good car, made some good changes during the race, had great pit stops on pit road and came out 22nd. Obviously we want to finish higher than that, but we made some good progress in our program. I'm excited to go see what we can do now at Charlotte.
"I know we're up against Dale Jr. in the fan vote this year and Junior Nation is a pretty impressive group. But I've got Gilly's Gang. They're a great, core group of fans who are just awesome. They're the best supporters that I've ever had. It makes my life a lot easier when I have their support whenever we have down days at the racetrack, and they get super excited on our good days. I know they're going to be voting for me and hopefully they'll spread the word to their friends about voting for me and getting us into the race if we can't win our way in."
