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Posted by Zeos on 6/18/2006, 9:15 am Gilliland shocks Cup drivers to win Busch race By Jeffrey McMurray, The Associated Press SPARTA, Ky. -- It was a streak that seemed unlikely to end Saturday night, particularly by the driver who ended it. Rookie David Gilliland, whose previous best finish was 29th, became the first non-Nextel Cup driver to win a Busch Series race this season. He passed J.J. Yeley with 10 laps to go and held on to take the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway. "You come into this, you're the lowest of lows -- the lowest on the totem pole you can be," Gilliland said. Not anymore. Throughout his post-race comments, Gilliland kept repeating the same word: "awesome." Gilliand, driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for Clay Andrews Racing, had the lead when the race went under a track record-tying 10th caution on Lap 192. He kept it from the restart three laps later until the finish. Despite a sluggish pit stop on the Lap 50 that dropped him from second to 19th, Gilliland fought all the way back to pull off the surprising victory. Nextel Cup drivers had won the first 15 Busch Series races of the year, but for most of them, Saturday just wasn't their night. Yeley, a Nextel Cup driver also seeking his first Busch Series victory, finished second for the second time in his career. "I feel like I left one get away [Saturday night]," Yeley said. Yeley's Joe Gibbs racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, finished third after starting from the pole. Carl Edwards, winner of two of his last three Busch races and the defending race champion at Kentucky Speedway, pulled off the track with transmission problems on the first lap. He was only able to finish 174 of the 200 laps. Points leader Kevin Harvick collided with the wall on the second lap, forcing him to pit twice to replace a front quarterpanel and all four tires. But he remained on the lead lap and quickly fought his way back among the leaders before fading to sixth. Reed Sorenson, another Cup regular who started in the third position, didn't finish the race after he cut a tire and collided with the wall. Jeff Fuller was injured in an accident. Fuller, whose car burst into flames when he collided with the inside wall in an effort to avoid contact with Jason Leffler, was taken by helicopter to University of Kentucky Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition with undisclosed injuries. Although Gilliland, from Chino, Calif., called the Busch Series a "big bite," he said he has far bigger dreams of racing in Nextel Cup some day. Therefore, he says he has no qualms with the higher competition. "That's where I want to be," he said. "To be able to do it you're going to have to race with them, you're going to have to beat them. We did it [Saturday night]." A track record 72,886 attended the Busch event at Kentucky Speedway, which doesn't have its own Cup date.
Link: http://www.nascar.com
Board Administrator
Consultant Jerry Nadeau says this David Gilliland guy is the real deal. Those in NASCAR might start agreeing after the rookie took his unsponsored, limited upstart team to Victory Lane at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night.
June 18, 2006
12:47 AM EDT (04:47 GMT)
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