David Gilliland

David Gilliland, No. 34 "Thanks, Bristol Fans" Ford

Starting Position: 17

Finishing Position: 24

David Gilliland and the No. 34 team earned a top-25 finish in Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race with a car that had good speed but diminishing handling over long, green-flag runs.

The No. 34 car, with the "Thanks, Bristol Fans" banner and fan names on the hood, started in the 17th position after a fast day practicing and qualifying on Friday.  Gilliland hung strong in the top 20 for the first 31 laps, and then pitted under a Lap-32 caution for adjustments to help the car turn more freely through the corners.

As the race progressed, Gilliland and crew chief Peter Sospenzo learned that adjustments helped the car early in a run, but the No. 34's handling would worsen as the laps ticked by.  At the mid-way point, Gilliland was in 30th.  

The team would take advantage of the "wave-around" rule twice to gain a lap back.  The strategy kept them in the game and allowed the team to continue working on the car on each pit stop, and by Lap 310 of 500 they had moved back into the top 25.

For an event that traditionally has a lot of cautions -- especially toward the end of the race -- Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race went surprisingly caution-free for the final 80 laps.  Despite the long run, Gilliland held his position -- even picking up an additional spot -- to finish 24th.  Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag for his third win of the 2011 season.
   
Comments from driver David Gilliland after the Bristol race:

"We would start off a run really good.  Our Ford Fusion took off pretty fast and just got tighter as we went.  The guys did a great job in the pits trying to make our car better and turned in some good pit stops, too.  Wish we'd have had a little bit better result, but we definitely learned a lot."

Travis Kvapil

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

Starting Position: 33

Finishing Position: 37

Travis Kvapil soldiered through Saturday night's race to finish 37th after mechanical gremlins struck the No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford part-way though the event, sending him to the garage for repairs.

The No. 38 team started 33rd and fell back several positions over the opening 100 laps due to a loose-handling car.  The team used two caution-period pit stops to help tighten up the car for Kvapil, but on Lap 129 the yellow flag flew again and this time it was for the No. 38 team themselves.  The Long John Silver's Ford broke a rear gear and was dropping fluid on the track.

The team spent the next 125 laps replacing the gear, housing and drive shaft on the car, and Kvapil returned to the track on Lap 254 in 38th position. He was able to pick up an additional spot over the remainder of the race to finish 37th.

Despite the disappointing result, the team moved up a position in the owner rankings to 36th -- still 49 points outside the top 35.

   
Comments from driver Travis Kvapil after the Bristol race:

"Obviously, that was hugely disappointing.  Bristol is such a cool place and we were really excited to go racing tonight.  This is a track where we have the ability to be fast and get a good result, and we have done that in the past.  But tonight, with the rear gear, we never really had a chance to be competitive."

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