David Gilliland

David Gilliland, No. 34 A&W All American Food Ford

Starting Position: 36

Finishing Position: 37
 

The AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway finally got under way on Tuesday, delayed a day and a half by the rains of Tropical Storm Lee.  David Gilliland and the No. 34 A&W All American Food team didn't qualify as well as they had wanted, but took the green flag in 36th position with a car that had shown consistent speed in practice.

He had moved up six positions when the race's first caution came out on Lap 11.  Crew chief Peter Sospenzo opted not to pit, putting Gilliland in 11th position for the restart.  The team would have trouble staying in the top 15, though, as Gilliland reported that the engine seemed to be down a cylinder.  A competition caution on Lap 30 enabled the team to come down pit road and fix what turned out to be a loose spark plug wire.

Gilliland was fighting a tight car over the next 140-plus laps, but was gaining ground as the team used multiple pit stops to improve the handling of their Ford Fusion.  As he was coming in for a green-flag pit stop on Lap 174 in 26th position, the A&W "wheel-hopped" at the pit road entrance, causing Gilliland to spin with a broken driveshaft.  The team pushed the car to the garage in hopes of making repairs but found the damage could not be corrected in time to return to the track.  Gilliland was credited with a 37th-place finish.
 
Comments from A&W Ford driver David Gilliland after the Atlanta race:

"We were racing for the 'Lucky Dog' with the 38 and I was just trying to get all I could getting onto pit road. I stayed on the race track and when I dropped down onto the apron it started to wheel-hop a little bit and it ended up breaking the driveshaft. I've never done that, but I guess there's a first time for everything. It's unfortunate. We had A&W All-American Food on our car this weekend. I felt like we had a good car. We didn't start out well. We had a plug wire fall off at the beginning and some other stuff happened, but I felt like we were going in the right direction and getting our car to drive the way we wanted, but it's not the kind of day we were looking for."

J.J. Yeley

J.J. Yeley, No. 38 Vampt Ford

Starting Position: 31

Finishing Position: 25

Rainy weather pushed the AdvoCare 500 from Sunday to Tuesday, and then it almost pushed J.J. Yeley and new sponsor Vampt to Victory Lane.

After starting in the 31st position, Yeley and the No. 38 Vampt Ford team had moved up to 10th for the Lap-35 restart -- like his teammate, choosing not to pit under the race's first caution.  Yeley reported his Ford Fusion was a bit tight through the center of the turns and needed help coming off the exit, a condition the team would work on throughout the day.  By the half-way mark, the team was running 28th.

The rains that dogged the Atlanta region for the previous two days made a return visit, beginning around Lap 178, with the caution flag officially thrown for weather on Lap 200 with Yeley in 27th.  As most of the field began to pit under caution, crew chief Jay Guy made the call to stay on the track so the team could lead a lap for a bonus point.  It was while the Vampt Ford Fusion was leading the field that NASCAR red-flagged the race and put Yeley in the position, if the race was not restarted, to secure the first win for Front Row Motorsports and the first in Yeley's Sprint Cup career.  But after a 24-minute delay, and plenty of TV time for Yeley, Guy and sponsor Vampt, the race was restarted.

The team gave up the lead to come down pit road after the restart and returned to the track in 26th.  Yeley stayed in this area of the leaderboard for most of the remaining laps.  Guy repeated the late-pit strategy twice more, putting Yeley in the top-5 right before pitting on Laps 244 and 284. 

In the final 40 laps, the Vampt Ford Fusion would start off strong and then lose speed, keeping Yeley in the top-25 range but unable to advance in position.  He crossed the line in 25th in an up-and-down day that still yielded a solid finish.

Comments from Vampt Ford team driver J.J. Yeley after the Atlanta race:

"That was a long but fun race.  It was great to have Vampt come on board for the first time on our No. 38 Ford Fusion, and we had fun getting them some attention when we were up front for the red flag.  Our biggest issue today was forward bite.  We would start off on a run pretty good and then fade a little.  I just couldn't come off the corner like I wanted to.  It was a good day, though.  We'll take a top-25 and look to build on it for next time."

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