Gilliland puts 38 Ford high on the speed charts

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- David Gilliland paced Friday's first Sprint Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway, which might have come as a bit of a surprise to the competition. But after he backed that up with another solid effort in Happy Hour for Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race, everybody was well aware of the No. 38 Ford.

David Gilliland and Randy Seals

Bristol Speeds

Practice 1

Pos.	Driver	Speed	Time
1.	D. Gilliland	120.543	15.918
2.	R. Gordon	119.529	16.053
3.	Dale Jr.	119.470	16.061
4.	J. Gordon	119.455	16.063
5.	Allmendinger	119.254	16.090

• Complete Speeds

Happy Hour

Pos.	Driver	Speed	Time
1.	R. Newman	121.190	15.833
2.	C. Edwards	121.022	15.855
3.	D. Gilliland	120.968	15.862
4.	J. Johnson	120.953	15.864
5.	J. Gordon	120.930	15.867

• Complete Speeds

Not only was Gilliland easily the quickest of the "go-or-go-home" cars attempting to make the field, he was third-quickest of the 49 cars trying to make the show at the .533-mile track that boasts of being the World's Fastest Half Mile. And he and crew chief Randy Seals were all smiles at the end of the 45-minute session.

"Randy and all the guys at Front Row Motorsports have brought an awesome Ford here," Gilliland said. "The car drove really well. I wish we were racing right now. I'm excited. I thought I had really good speed."

Nearly every car worked on making mock qualifying runs in the final practice, and Gilliland was no exception, since his team is 37th in owners' points heading into the season's 24th race.

"We're going to do some qualifying stuff, because we've got to qualify in on time," Gilliland said. "That's our focus this practice."

There were no major incidents in Happy Hour, although Kurt Busch got his No. 2 Dodge sideways on one of his runs. He was able to correct the car and drive away without touching the wall.

That wasn't the case for A.J. Allmendinger, who had a couple of incidents in the first practice, eventually denting the right-rear corner of his No. 43 Ford.

• Video: Allmendinger has double trouble

However, with the car repaired, he and the team obviously found something in the afternoon session, as he wound up 10th.

With temperatures reaching 90 on a sultry summer afternoon -- and much hotter in the infield -- the track was understandably hot and slick. That, coupled with a tire that several drivers said was designed to put down a layer of rubber on the concrete track, had drivers like Matt Kenseth scratching their heads.

"It puts a quarter- or half-inch layer of rubber on there," Kenseth said. "It's like slime when you get behind somebody. You just can't do anything, so it's kind of difficult. I hope there won't be any tire problems. I think the tires will be real durable, but it might make it a little tougher to pass."

Jeff Burton said he saw a lot of cars battling to find the right setup.

"It seemed like a lot of people were fairly free," Burton said. "At the same token, speeds seemed to be adequately good. A lot of it depends on how your car is handling. For sure, I saw a lot of people looked like they were struggling to make rear grip. The tire, and the heat, had to be an influence on that."

Because practice and qualifying is run in the heat of the day, while the race will be run under cooler conditions, it's hard to know if Gilliland's strong effort will transfer over. At the same time, he said the competition is in the same boat.

"I just think you've just got to compare yourself to everybody else," Gilliland said. "Everybody else is running in the heat and they're going to have to run at night, so your speed is relative. It's all about getting the car driving good."