David Gilliland

David Gilliland, No. 34 Ford

Starting Position: 37

Finishing Position: 33
 

When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series comes to Indianapolis Motor Speedway each year, one of the teams' fiercest foes is the summer heat. Heat proved to be a formidable opponent for David Gilliland and the No. 34 team on Sunday during the Brickyard 400.  Twice the team had to make unscheduled pit stops when debris on the car's grill caused the engine to overheat.

Gilliland started the race in the 37th position and right away told crew chief Peter Sospenzo that his Ford Fusion was the best it had been all weekend.  But he asked for some adjustments in helping the car turn as he reported it was "snug" going through the turns.  Sospenzo ordered chassis and air-pressure adjustments in the team's first two pit stops.

By Lap 44 of 160, in 32nd position, the team had a bigger problem.  The car was running hot and shooting water as a result of debris on the grill.  Gilliland made a quick, unscheduled pit stop so the crew could clean off the junk, but the engine still needed cooling.  Under a caution period seven laps later, the team went under the hood to add water.  Returning to the track in 35th and a lap down, the team returned to working on the handling for the next 60-plus laps.  But on Lap 121, after getting grass on the grill, Gilliland had to make a repeat trip to pit road for another engine cooldown.

Restarting in 34th with 34 laps to go, Gilliland was able to pick up one more position in the closing laps to finish 33rd.  In what ended as a fuel-mileage race, Paul Menard earned his first career victory and the chance to kiss the famous start-finish line bricks.
 
Comments from driver David Gilliland after the Indianapolis race:

"We saw a lot of guys overheating out there today.  Saw a lot of grass getting kicked up and causing problems.  The guys did a good job getting the engine cooled back down as fast as they could.  But we were already battling a tight car to begin with, so having to make unscheduled stops didn't help.  By the end of the race, we actually started to hit on some stuff that really helped.  But by that time we'd already lost ground we couldn't make up."

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