David Gilliland won a Busch Series race earlier this season at Kentucky. Credit: Autostock

Gilliland, Yates set to get started on new chapter

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Considering he's jumping into a new car, with a new crew chief and team at a track where he's never raced, David Gilliland looked remarkably composed Friday.

Even after his new boss used the phrase "the next Dale Earnhardt" in describing why Gilliland was hired to replace Elliott Sadler with 14 races left in the season.

	Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers David Gilliland in the 2006 Busch Series Race Start Finish Las Vegas 43 39 Texas 11 29 Phoenix 31 33 Richmond 35 30 Kentucky 4 1 Chicago 8 26 Martinsville 27 36 Indy 21 29 Average 22.5 27.9

No pressure there, David.

Gilliland was introduced as the newest piece to the puzzle Robert Yates Racing is attempting to construct as the team deals with the departure of two veteran drivers, a pair of crew chiefs and one major sponsor.

For co-owner Doug Yates, it couldn't come quickly enough.

With M&M's promising to continue its support of the No. 38 Ford and Todd Parrott back in the fold as crew chief, it's almost as if the storm clouds are finally clearing over the RYR shop.

"I won't kid you. There's been a few Friday mornings where I didn't want to get out of bed," Yates said. "This morning, I couldn't wait to get in here. It feels like things are back to the way they're supposed to be."

Yates said he was alerted to Gilliland's talents earlier in the season.

"I've got some friends in the business, been around a long time, and earlier this season they said, 'You need to watch this guy. This is the next Dale Earnhardt,' " Yates said. "And early on, I started watching him, and every practice session he'd be at the top of the sheet."

Gilliland closed the deal with his Busch Series victory at Kentucky, Yates said.

"When he won, I called my dad up and said, 'We just got our new driver,' " he said, "and he thought I was talking about Stephen [Leicht] and I said, 'No, Stephen finished 10th. I'm talking about the guy who won the race.'

"We started talking after that and here we sit."

Which is why Yates feels "like the luckiest guy in the garage today."

ALSO BROOKLYN, Mich. -- While Doug Yates announced the hiring of David Gilliland to drive the No. 38 Ford on Friday at Michigan International Speedway, he didn't rule out the possibility that Robert Yates Racing may look very different in the future.  "Robby [Gordon's] not buying our whole place, I want to put that to rest," Yates said.   Yates went on to say the team was exploring the possibility of running a four-car Nextel Cup operation, the maximum allowed by NASCAR. However, he didn't say exactly how that would be accomplished.  "We're looking for opportunities to grow our business," Yates said. "We have to make smart decisions for the future."  Yates did hint that perhaps the team may be in the market for a new direction, whether that's in leadership or an alliance.  "My dad is at the point in his career where if he's making every decision of every day, he wants to pass the torch off," Yates said. "And I've got a lot of responsbilities on my shoulders. Sometimes you need some energy to help you get there.  "So we're going to see how things shape up and make the best decision for our organization, our people, to get a chance to get our cars in Victory Lane. That is the goal."  •   Mark Aumann

"Having M&Ms back with us, having David Gilliland driving our car, having a future is something that everybody just wants to know, 'where are we headed?' And that's where all those rumors [about Robby Gordon purchasing the team] started swirling. And as we started putting those things to rest, we can start focusing on our performance. This is one piece of the puzzle and I'm looking forward to practicing today and the race on Sunday."

Yates admitted that letting Parrott go at the end of last season was a mistake.

"Why did we make some changes at the end of the year? Because we were stupid," Yates said. "We shouldn't have done that. But we're back, things are back in place and I can't wait to go forward."

For Gilliland, getting a chance to drive the No. 38 is a dream come true.

"It's just an honor to be associated with a championship-quality team and I'm just very, very excited about the opportunity," Gilliland said. "And the deal just keeps getting better for me ... [with] Todd Parrott as the crew chief.

"He's a championship crew chief and with all his experience, I'm hoping that it'll help cut down my learning curve a little bit and help us get where we need to be."

In fact, Gilliland and Parrott hit it off well during a test session at Kentucky Speedway this week.

"As far as working with Todd, we tested this week and it went really well," Gilliland said. "He's very open and I just told him, I'm a rookie.

"I told everybody on the team, 'hey, if you see me doing anything please tell me, I want to learn and cut down our learning curve as much as possible.'"

Parrott agreed with Gilliland's assessment.

"His communication is very, very good," Parrott said. "His feel for the racecar, I was quite surprised. I've worked with veteran drivers my whole career -- Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Elliott Sadler. He doesn't have any bad habits."

Gilliland confirmed he'll be giving up the chance to run for 2007 Nextel Cup rookie of the year by running the rest of the 2006 schedule.

"We feel like it's more important to run some races now and get some experience on some of these tracks that I haven't been to," he said. "We feel like if we run the rest of the races this year, we will have gone to all of the tracks, except for one or two, and I feel that's more important to being successful for next year."

Gilliland said he expects NASCAR officials to clear him to drive at Talladega later this season, if he does well this weekend and at other high-speed tracks.

He certainly looked comfortable in the car during Friday's first practice, running the fifth-fastest speed at 184.247 mph.