DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — David Gilliland prides himself on his tenacity and persistence. But two years ago, even he figured his goal of reaching the pinnacle of stock car racing, NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series, would go unfulfilled.
"At that point I was 28 and I thought, 'Why am I doing this?' " he said. The Riverside native had a winning record in NASCAR's western minor leagues, but a Cup ride had eluded him.
"I was probably going to quit racing," he said, even though being a Cup driver "had been a dream of mine forever."
But Gilliland is, well, persistent. He kept driving, landed a ride in NASCAR's second-tier Busch Series and then pulled off a stunning upset in a Busch race last June.
That prompted the Robert Yates Racing team to hire him to pilot the No. 38 M&Ms Ford Fusion in the Cup series, and Gilliland drove the final 14 races last season against Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and the other stars of NASCAR.
It was only the beginning.
Gilliland is suddenly the hottest driver at the cathedral of NASCAR, Daytona International Speedway, as stock car racing prepares for its most celebrated race, the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
In the Budweiser Shootout, a 70-lap exhibition race Saturday night, Gilliland finished a close second to winner Tony Stewart -- even though it was the first time Gilliland had raced on the 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona oval.
The next day Gilliland won the pole position for the 500 with a qualifying speed of 186.320 mph, faster than 60 other drivers. His teammate and mentor, veteran Ricky Rudd, qualified second and will start next to Gilliland on the front row in the 500.
Rudd marvels at how quickly Gilliland adapted to the Cup series in general and to Daytona in particular.
"You've got to remember, this guy came here to test" in January "and had never seen the racetrack," Rudd said. "He couldn't find his way to the [infield] tunnel, and that was what, a month ago?"
Qualifying well and winning a long Cup race are different matters. But after Gilliland nearly won the Shootout, Stewart -- who seldom minces words -- said, "David is a pretty talented guy. He was running a real smooth line."
Gilliland says his goal for Sunday is "to bring home a good, solid finish." Plus, he wants to prove he deserves to stay at the Cup level, and believes his age -- he's now 30 -- and maturity help him handle the pressure.
