 | | David Gilliland drew plenty of attention Friday at Sonoma. Credit: Courtesy |
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
June 23, 2006
09:26 PM EDT (01:26 GMT)
SONOMA, Calif. -- Could David Gilliland be proof that an out-of-nowhere Busch win leads to automatic Nextel Cup employment? Gilliland's own words offer hints that it already has. Gilliland, 30, stunned the NASCAR world by winning last weekend's Busch event at Kentucky, and in the process, vaulted himself overnight into the Silly Season mix. "[I] have not signed anything, I would like to get something in place fairly soon," Gilliland said. Car owners -- Gilliland won't say who -- started calling him immediately after the win, in which he beat seven Nextel Cup regulars head-to-head in one of the Busch Series' richest events of the year. His current Busch team, Clay Andrews Racing, scored the upset win despite possessing only three cars in its shop. They don't even own their own pit cart, and Gilliland hadn't finished better than 29th in four starts this season. But the win brought a payday of $106,800 to the small team -- a sum nearly unheard of for a Busch Series victory. Gilliland, who is married with two children, joked that he has already placed his share of the winnings in the bank. It is a bank account that might swell in the next few weeks. Gilliland moved to North Carolina from his native California with no contract, and because of that, he is free to sign with any team. "[I'm] playing out all our opportunities," Gilliland said. "We are going to do what is best for us. We are closer than ever now. There are good opportunities out there. Feel it out and do what is best." The Nextel Cup Series currently has a half-dozen open jobs available for 2007, but Gilliland is also entertaining full-time Busch offers. "I would like to finish the year with Clay Andrews but we are exploring all our opportunities," Gilliland said. "It was a good win and it came at a good time to make plans for next year. Possibly we might fit into someone's plans. "I feel confident that we will be full time next year whether it's Cup or Busch. That is something that I can't stop smiling about. We are one step closer and enjoying every minute of it." Gilliland wasn't even cleared by NASCAR to test a Nextel Cup car at a typical 1.5-mile speedway, but Saturday's win changed that. He is now cleared to run anything except a restrictor-plate track, and Gilliland said he would try to land a ride for Talladega -- perhaps in ARCA -- to gain clearance to run those tracks in 2007. Gilliland arrived at Sonoma attempting to make Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma (3 p.m. ET, FOX) with the newly formed CMJ Racing's No. 72 Dodge, and his streak of success continued. He qualfied 31st. But he was realistic about his chances on Sunday and said he was at Sonoma to gain experience. "I knew going into this deal that it would be tough," Gilliland said, "especially with the points and with the road-race guys coming in." | 
