Gilliland hopes for repeat of previous road-course runnerup performance
By SceneDaily Staff
Thursday, August 07, 2008
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David Gilliland’s best career finish in the Sprint Cup Series was a second at the Infineon Raceway road course earlier this season, so he is looking forward to Sunday's race on the 2.45-mile road course at Watkins Glen International.
Gilliland was 33rd at Watkins Glen last year, but after the strong showing at Infineon in Sonoma, Calif., in June, he hopes his good
road-racing fortune continues.
“I’m looking forward to returning to a road course this weekend,” said Gilliland, who will drive Yates Racing’s No. 38 Ford in Sunday's Centurion Boats at The Glen. “We had our best finish of the season so far at Sonoma, and we were able to turn that very same car around in order to use it at Watkins Glen this weekend.”
The two tracks are quite different, but good road racers usually do well at both venues.
“David showed that he’s extremely good at it with our performance at Sonoma back in June when he finished second,” crew chief Cully Barraclough said. “Our plan is to do the same thing we did at Sonoma: Work on our track position from a strong qualifying effort, and then just to keep the car on the race track during the race.
“We’re bringing the same car we ran at Sonoma with a couple tweaks to make it compatible with Watkins Glen. Hopefully, David will be as happy with the car this weekend as he was at Sonoma so that we can get the same results or even one better than we did there.”
Gilliland calls The Glen a “superspeedway road course” as compared to Infineon Raceway.
“The way that Watkins Glen’s turns are set up lets drivers reach higher speeds than we obtain at Sonoma, which feels a little slower in regards to the pace,” Gilliland said. “This weekend our goal is to stay out of trouble, have clean pit stops, and with both of those elements, I think we can come away with another strong finish at our second road course event of the season. I’m really excited about this weekend.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- David Gilliland
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