Sunday, August 03, 2008

Yes, I am still proud of David Gilliland!

After today's finish at Pocono, where David Gilliland finished approximately 34th (at this writing, as I am not sure how the finish actually shuffled out) one would think that I would be embarrassed about my late night post about the upcoming success for David Gilliland!

Not at all! In fact, I am even more hopeful for the future! Listening in on the scanner conversations for the 38 team, I heard that the car was pretty darned good. I also heard adjustments that were very tiny, with no drastic changes at all. It looked like David had a car for the long runs, as he was shortening the distance to the leaders on several of the first runs.

My stress level went up when crew chief Cully Barraclough called David in to pit early. When the race was red flagged, I was fidgeting and nervous the whole time. And I was thankful that the race started back up again.

As the post-red flag laps continued, it looked as if Cully's strategy was going to turn him into a hero. David was in the top ten, and preparing to come in on the next lap, when he ran out of gas. The slow trip to pit road dropped him a lap down. Those of us in race chat were dumb-founded. David reported to the crew how sick he was, and Cully agreed that the whole team was feeling abit ill too.

The final tire stop for the car had David leaving the pits with his best handling car of the day. What is very noteworthy, is that David never once swore at his team. I am sure that the team feels bad enough. It is a pleasure knowing that David's radio is G-rated!

At any rate, David did everything he could, but a failed pit strategy gamble will show up as a bad day. I know that David did want to have a good finish for the last race with Freecreditreport.com on the car.

I would also like to take the time to thank the sponsor Freecreditreport.com. They have been a stalwart sponsor. Thank you very much for your support!

And now, on to Watkins Glen! We know that David can drive road courses. I am sure our team's success will come soon! And I am sure that David will find his way to Victory Lane, especially if these cars keep getting better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Merri,
I am very proud of "all" the #38 team.
Please don't throw anyone under the bus for what happened.
They "all" wanted to win the race.
We are a 'team'.
Thank you.

Snafam said...

I am sorry if you think I threw someone under the bus. I haven't. I just went back and reread the blog. and I don't think there was anything derogatory here.