NASCAR Cup

Bristol II: David Gilliland preview

Gilliland Ready for Bristol at Night Mooresville, North Carolina, (August 18, 2009) - David Gilliland is ready to take the TRG Motorsports No. 71 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Impala SS to the Bull Ring that is Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:21 PM

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Gilliland Ready for Bristol at Night

Mooresville, North Carolina, (August 18, 2009) - David Gilliland is ready to take the TRG Motorsports No. 71 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Impala SS to the Bull Ring that is Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sharpie 500.

Brist. advance Gilliland qualified 14th in the spring race at Bristol, his best effort in his six event history at the .533 mile oval located on the border of Tennessee and Virginia.

"The night at race Bristol is very special," Gilliland said. "We don't race at night that much. There will be sparks flying. I think it is a better show for the fans. It is sold out and that makes it even more fun for the drivers. It is a great race. The track has more grip at night. When the track has more grip, the drivers tend to be more aggressive and that makes for an exciting show."

The team is taking the same car back that they ran in the spring race.

"We are taking the same car back. TRG Motorsports is a young team and we don't have that many cars, so we can't always take the same car back to these tracks the second time around. We are building on our notes. We ran pretty good there in the spring, but couldn't put a good finish together. We were running 16th at one point and came in for a pit stop and went back out in 35th, you can't do that at Bristol. I have a lot of confidence going back there. The car will be better than in the spring."

Night time setup versus day time setup will have crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe and the team challenged all weekend.

"The setup of the car for the night race will be a little different than we ran during the day. Bristol is has a concrete surface and it really doesn't change as much with the temperature. Atlanta from day to night will see a big difference in the track and how the car handles. Slugger and the guys will have to be ready for everything and anything this weekend."

Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports team principal, is improving this small team and is looking to be more competitive with the repeat visits to these circuits.

"Bristol is one of the tracks that everyone wants to perform well at," Buckler said. "We are going to these tracks for the second time and as a young team we are seeing how good our notes are from the previous race. We qualified 14th the last time, but had some miscues in the race. We have improved our pit stops and the car preparation is progressing each race. David knows these circuits and the communication between him and Slugger is very strong. We are looking to be very competitive this weekend at Bristol."

-credit: trgm

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