David Gilliland

David Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford

Starting Position: 24

Finishing Position: 23

David Gilliland and the No. 34 team earned a hard-fought top-25 finish in Sunday's rain-interrupted race at Pocono Raceway.  The team successfully worked to improve their car all weekend, from the time they unloaded until the closing laps of the 500-mile event.

A strong qualifying run had Gilliland starting in the 24th position, but he reported his Ford Fusion was tight in the early stages of the race.  He dropped back as far as 32nd, but some good adjustments, quick pit stops and smart pit strategy had him back in the top 25 by the midpoint.  It was about this same time that raindrops started to fall on the tri-oval.  The red flag came out at Lap 123 and cars stayed parked on pit road for the next hour and 40 minutes.

Once racing resumed, the No. 34 team kept plugging away at improving their car with each pit stop, dipping in and out of the top 25 and keeping on the lead lap with the help of a "Lucky Dog" pass during a Lap-180 caution. After the team's final pit stop on Lap 182, Gilliland restarted in the 26th position and was able to pick off some strong competitors to gain three more positions in the final 15 laps.  He crossed the finish line in 23rd on the lead lap for a solid finish for Front Row Motorsports. 

   
Comments from driver David Gilliland after the Pocono race:

"We were much more competitive than we've been the last few weeks, so I'm happy with the progress we've made and excited about bringing the changes that we figured out on the car today to step up our competition level as a team. I think we can take this to Michigan,
which is the next intermediate track we're going to, so I feel like it was a good day for Front Row Motorsports."

Travis Kvapil

Travis Kvapil, No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford

Starting Position: 39

Finishing Position: 31

Travis Kvapil and the No. 38 Long John Silver's team took the green flag of Sunday's race in the 39th position, looking for a solid day to get them closer to the top 35 in owners' points. They would soon see they had multiple challenges to overcome.

The bumpy and rough tri-oval lived up to its reputation of being "tricky," as crew chief Jay Guy and the team worked all afternoon to improve the handling of Kvapil's Ford in each of the track's distinctive corners.  During the first three pit stops, Guy ordered various adjustments to help Kvapil get more speed coming out of the corners and also got the team on a different pit sequence for a possible advantage with rain clouds headed for the track.

After the team's fourth pit stop, on Lap 70, NASCAR issued a pass-through penalty to Kvapil for speeding off pit road, putting him a lap down in 32nd. The team was later in position to earn a "Lucky Dog" pass at the midpoint of the race, but a caution didn't fall their way.  

Kvapil was still in 32nd at the time of the red flag for rain -- and running low on fuel.  When the race finally went back to green on Lap 131, Kvapil was running on fumes and had to duck down pit road on the restart, gathering another penalty from NASCAR for refueling before taking the green flag.

The team kept fighting for track position and tried once again to earn a "Lucky Dog" pass with about 50 laps to, but again couldn't get a yellow to fall their way.  Kvapil picked up one additional spot in the remaining laps to finish 31st and come within nine points of moving up a spot in owners' points.

   
Comments from driver Travis Kvapil after the Pocono race:

"Man, Pocono is always tough.  We tried all day to get more out of our Long John Silver's Ford and we were able to make some progress, but we were never able to get what we needed in Turn 3.  That's where we kept getting beat.  We were unlucky with the 'Lucky Dogs' and we had a couple penalties, too, so we had some other things not go our way also."

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