Statesville, N.C. (November 1, 2011) - Texas Motor Speedway is a favorite stop on the racing circuit for driver David Gilliland, but he learned the hard way on his last visit that everything really is bigger in Texas - including the wrecks.  In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' April race at the Fort Worth oval, the driver of the No. 34 Ford blew a tire and hit the wall hard.  His car was not repairable and he finished 42nd.

Gilliland is ready to put that memory behind him as he returns to the 1.5-mile tri-oval for Sunday's AAA Texas 500.  He has a top-15 and two top-20 finishes in 10 career starts at Texas.

Comments from driver David Gilliland heading into Texas:

"I like Texas.  It is definitely one of my favorite racetracks.  Earlier in the year it was one of my hardest hits I think I remember taking after blowing a tire. Hopefully we've got that behind us now, I feel like we've got that under control and I'm looking forward to going back there. We've got a lot of friends and family out there and it's just a great racetrack. It's really fast, a mile-and-a-half and it's just somewhere I really enjoy going.

"We actually had our car working pretty good for us that weekend before we blew the tire.  We had made some good progress making it better during practice and during the race.  But that was the early part of the year when we had some brake-cooling issues and that's what ended our day early.  Those issues are behind us so I'm really looking forward to going to Texas and having a good weekend.

"Things are really heating up in the Chase right now and the competition is really tight among the top few chasers.  We really saw the tensions running high at Martinsville and I think we're going to keep seeing it these last three races.  So, we just kind of have to watch our backs.  We've got some guys ticked off at other guys and we might see more paybacks in these last few weeks.  We just need to stay out of that and keep our nose clean and bring home three solid finishes to close out our year."