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Statesville, N.C. (August 2, 2011) - As David Gilliland and his No. 34 Ford team head back to the Pocono Mountains, he is also beginning a three-and-a-half-week excursion in a set of wheels much larger than his No. 34 Ford. Gilliland, his wife and two kids have begun a summer road trip where Gilliland will drive the family motorcoach from race to race and stop and see all the sights in between. The trip began in Indianapolis and will end back home in North Carolina after the August 21 race at Michigan International Speedway. This is the second consecutive season the family has taken such a trip.
On the track at Pocono Raceway, the challenging turns often keep it off drivers' lists of favorite tracks, but Gilliland feels pretty good about his chances heading to the Long Pond, Pa., tri-oval this weekend. The No. 34 team has already mastered one of the trickier parts of the 2.5-mile triangle, with their Ford Fusion handling the difficult Turn 3 well during the Sprint Cup Series' June race there. This time around, the team is looking to improve the car in Turn 1 and aims for a top-20 finish in Sunday's Good Sam RV Insurance 500.
Comments from No. 34 Front Row Motorsports team driver David Gilliland going to Pocono:
"We'll be going back to Pocono our second time this year. And for us at Front Row Motorsports, anything that we can do for a second time where we can go back on our notes, that's going to help us. We had some decent cars there last time, both for Sam Hornish in the 38 and me. I'm excited about going back to Pocono. It's a different track, different than anything else we race on, but it's still a lot of fun. It's a challenge. It definitely presents itself with a unique challenge and I'm looking forward to going back there.
"It's a very difficult track to get your car to where you are happy with it once the race starts, but Peter (Sospenzo) and the team did a good job last year. We were pretty good in Turn 3, but we struggled a little more than we'd like in Turn 1. So, we'll go back there with the mentality of making sure Turn 3 is still good but then shifting our focus on Turn 1, too.
"In the meantime, we've started our Griswold-style road trip for the second straight summer. We're going to go from Indy to Pocono, Pocono to Watkins Glen, then to Michigan and then I'll drive it home. We've added about four days to the trip from last year. (My wife) Michelle and I are excited about it, and the kids are super excited about it. We've officially moved into the motor home - that's our house for the next three or four weeks.
"My wife and I had gone back and forth about whether we were going to do it again or not. Everyone got along so good and we enjoyed it so much last year that we didn't know if we should tempt fate and try it again, if everybody could go without killing each other in there. I think it will be great and we're excited about it. We had so much fun last year, and if it's half the trip that is was last year it will be a success." | 
