David Gilliland will make his sixth start of the season at New Hampshire this weekend. Credit: Autostock

10 Questions: D. Gilliland

Nextel Cup newcomer David Gilliland will continue to score victories for the "little guys" in racing every time he takes a green flag in stock car's premier series.

Right now, that means wheeling Robert Yates Racing's No. 38 Ford Fusion -- an opportunity that came out of his smash through Busch Series victory earlier this summer at Kentucky Speedway.

	David Gilliland took over the No. 38 Ford at Michigan in August. Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers David Gilliland's 2006 Cup stats Race Start Finish Status Sonoma 31 32 running Michigan 26 38 running Bristol 38 40 running California 20 32 running Richmond 24 36 running Average 27.8 35.6

Gilliland closes in on only his sixth career start, which he'll make this weekend in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

But he took a break recently to answer 10 questions not necessarily connected to his racing career.

1. What is your favorite outdoor activity, other than racing?

Gilliland: Other than racing, it would be boating -- being out on the lake. And not necessarily water skiing, but just being out on the lake with my family.

We don't own our own boat yet. When we were living in California, my father-in-law did, so we spent a lot of our free time on his boat.

In all my time in racing, it's something that's taken up all of my time, because it was something in which I was one of the two people that were behind the whole thing.

But now that we have this deal, driving the M&M's Fusion for Robert Yates Racing, and we live close to Lake Norman, it's something we're looking at doing because it's my favorite thing to do.

2. What is the most embarrassing moment you'll own up to, either in or out of racing?

Gilliland: At Irwindale Speedway out in California, they had an open comp Late Model race about three years ago. I set fast time and I was coming from the back and I wrecked the guy that had the second-fast time, coming out of the last corner.

We totaled both of our cars in the trophy dash -- so that was the most embarrassed that I've been in my whole life. I told the tow truck driver, 'Just tow me out of the racetrack.'

The guy that I wrecked and I are good friends now, but it was just something that was a hard way to learn a lesson. We weren't able to put the car back together for the feature that night.

Actually, I was able to put mine back together, but he wasn't -- and the rule was, if you take someone out and they can't continue, you can't continue.

That was a good rule, but it didn't help the embarrassment factor, because that was the most embarrassed that I've ever been.

3. Which athlete outside of racing do you most admire?

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL David Gilliland played high school golf with Tiger Woods, and the sport cemented several business contacts.  •   Complete story, click here

Gilliland: Probably Tiger Woods. We went to school together and played golf together and he's a very focused and dedicated person; and that's why he's on top of his game.

If I were able to model anything in my own career, from being around him when we were teenagers, it would be just his focus and dedication. All throughout high school, golf was what he wanted to do and what he was going to do -- and you could tell he was special.

I played golf, but I wasn't real good at it -- I wasn't like [Woods was]. But I took a little bit of what I learned from him and put it toward racing. I'm the same way toward racing [as Woods is to golf] and it's helped me be successful.

4. If you could go back in time, what period in history would you like to live in, and why?

Gilliland: I don't think I'd like to do that, you know what I mean? We live in a great country and right now, with all the opportunity there is, it's hard to imagine wanting to be anywhere else at any time.

5. What's your favorite guilty pleasure?

Gilliland: Sleeping in, definitely. I'm not a morning person for sure. And no, I don't stay up real late. I just like that bed a little bit.

We have a lot of early garage openings and stuff like that, so I have to pick spots [to sleep in]. You just rest when you can. I don't have a problem getting up in the morning, but if I don't have to, I definitely don't.

6. What is "must see TV" for you?

Gilliland: My favorite thing on TV is probably those wildest police chase videos, you know what I mean? No, I'm not picking up any driving tips, but it's just something I've always liked to watch.

My wife is always asking me, 'Why do you watch that?' But I'm not a big sitcom person. Throughout my life I haven't been home nights and during the week I've always been working, so I never really got into anything like that.

7. What's at the bottom of your "honey do" list?

Gilliland: Outside yard work around the house. That's something I don't do well with.

We own a home with three-quarters of an acre in Mooresville, N.C., but I don't have any of the machinery to keep up with it. We actually have a gardener who comes out and does it and takes care of everything because I don't like it.

Some people enjoy that type of thing -- it's kind of their time to do it. But I'm just too busy.

8. What was your first job and what is your most vivid memory of it?

Gilliland: My first job was digging trenches for a friend of my dad's who was a pool plumber. It was in Lake Elsinore, Calif., and it was rocky and hot.

It was a shovel and blisters is what it was. It was in the summer and I lasted about two weeks, at most.

9. Did that make you think you needed to go into racing as a full-time career?

Gilliland: We worked with a pick and shovel -- no backhoe -- and that absolutely made me think I needed to go into racing as a full-time career.

My dad owned his own business, a truck and automotive repair business, and after that experience digging trenches I came back and said, 'Dad, this is what I think I want to do.'

So I worked for him for probably the next six years.

10. What have you learned about yourself in the last year?

Gilliland: My dad always told me that anything could be done if you worked hard enough at it and you believed in yourself. In racing, it's an emotional roller coaster ride -- up and down.

I've just really learned that you've got to store the highs to help you through the lows in racing and that's about it.