Gilliland wins West Series race at Sonoma

David Gilliland, a driver from Riverside, won the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma on the same weekend his father, Butch Gilliland, was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.
Gilliland, a regular on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, won his second West Series race at Sonoma, matching his dad's two wins at the road course in Northern California.
David Gilliland was the crew chief for his dad in one of those wins at Sonoma.
Greg Pursley won the pole for the race in Sonoma and finished third. The reigning West Series champion cut into the lead of his Gene Price Motorsports teammate, Dylan Kwasniewski, who leads the West Series standings.
Derek Thorn finished second, his fifth top-five finish in eight West Series races this year.
Go to the K&N website for more on the West Series race from Sonoma.

Photo: David Gilliland leads the field at the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Sonoma. (Getty Images for NASCAR)

From Irwindale Speedway to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver David Gilliland won his first stock car race on pavement at Irwindale Speedway. He won a NASCAR Southwest Tour race, a West Series race and a All-Star Showdown race at Irwindale before moving to the Cup Series with Front Row Motorsports.
The track management at Irwindale Speedway cancelled the 2012 racing season and filed for bankruptcy last month.
A number of Cup and Nationwide series drivers raced at Irwindale Speedway early in their NASCAR careers.
Joey Logano won two All-Star Showdown races at Irwindale. Kasey Kahne and Casey Mears raced in the USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale.
Jason Bowles and Travis Pastrana raced at Irwindale before moving up to the Nationwide Series.
Go to ESPN Los Angeles for more on the NASCAR drivers who raced at Irwindale Speedway.

Photo: David Gilliland won late model, Southwest Tour and All-Star Showdown races at Irwindale Speedway.(Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Daytona International Speedway has good news for short track racers

Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway will have a place for the short track stock car racers across the nation in 2013.
A two-day event that will include the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tours North and South is planned on a short track oval being built on the backstretch of Daytona International Speedway, a NASCAR official said on Wednesday.
The two-day of races will be in 2013 on the Monday and Tuesday before the Daytona 500, once called the dark days of Daytona, on a proposed .4-mile paved oval. The event will also include a late model race. Drivers and teams from the NASCAR international series in Mexico, Canada and Europe will also have an opportunity to enter the races.
The event is being described as the next step up from the NASCAR All-Star Showdown that was run at Irwindale Speedway. The NASCAR All-Star Showdown evolved into a three-race event with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West and East, Super Late Models and Late Models.
The All-Star Showdown was a stepping stone for a number of NASCAR drivers who moved up to the Sprint Cup Series. Joey Logano and David Gilliland won All-Star Showdown races and Travis Pastrana made his NASCAR debut at the Showdown last year.
More details about the track and the races will be announced on Friday.

David Gilliland talks about the Daytona 500 and the 2010 Sprint Cup Series

David Gilliland almost won the NASCAR Super Late Model portion of the All-Star Showdown at Irwindale on Friday night. He finished second to Rip Michels, a Super Late Model regular at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
Gilliland will be driving for BAM Racing in the Daytona 500 next month and he will be driving for Front Row Motorsports for most of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season.
He talked about how Robby Gordon helped him land a seat for the Daytona 500 and what he expects from the 2010 Cup Series season.

David Gilliland lands seat for Daytona 500, Sprint Cup Series season

Riverside’s David Gilliland will have a busy start to the NASCAR season.
He was already entered in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale. Reports are circulating that he has landed a seat for the Daytona 500.
Gilliland is reportedly going to drive the No. 49 car for BAM Racing in next month’s Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
Gilliland’s last NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was in the No. 02 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing at Texas Motor Speedway. He finished 28th in that race.
Gilliland won the Toyota All-Star Showdown race in 2005 before moving on to the NASCAR Nationwide Series the following year. He pulled off a surprise win at Kentucky Speedway and landed his first Cup ride with Yates Racing.
But Gilliland has bounced around from various NASCAR teams in recent years. He landed with BAM for the Daytona 500 and Front Rom Motorsports for the majority of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season.
Gilliland will share driving duties with Robert Ricahrdson Jr. in the No. 38 Ford for Front Row Motorsports.
Front Row Motorsports added a third car to its Cup team for Gilliland and Richardson. Travis Kvapil is in the No. 34 car and rookie Kevin Conway is in the No. 37 car for the team.
Gilliland and Kvapil were teammates earlier in their NASCAR careers with Yates Racing.
"It's going to be great to be back in a Ford with Roush/Yates Engines and teammates with Travis and Kevin," said Gilliland. "Travis and I had a lot of good runs together in the past and I know that Front Row Motorsports has put a lot of efforts into their program during the off-season. I think we can surprise some people."

Gilliland will be driving a car for Speed Wong Racing in the Toyota All-Star Showdown.
“This event was always like our Daytona 500 when I raced on the West Coast,” Gilliland said. “It’s always fun for me to go back and visit a lot of the people who were such a huge part of getting me to where I am today. We have had a lot of success at Irwindale and always enjoy racing there.”
Gilliland joins Joey Logano, the 2009 Sprint Cup Series rookie of the year, former Cup Series driver Steve Park, reigning West Series champ Jason Bowles and two-time Showdown winner Matt Kobyluck in this year’s Showdown race.
The Toyota All-Star Showdown is Jan. 29-30 and will be televised in Speed Channel.

Photo: David Gilliland, a NASCAR driver from Riverside, will be entered in the Daytona 500 for BAM Racing and the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale for Speed Wong Racing. (Credit: Padraic Major/NASCAR)

Hornaday wins Trucks Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway

Ron Hornaday Jr. won his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series of the season and took over the lead in the Truck Series standings Friday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in North Carolina.
It was the 40th Truck Series win for Hornaday. The three-time Truck Series champion is the leader in career Truck Series wins.
He has an 84-point lead over Mike Skinner after six races in the Truck Series season. Skinner, driving the No. 5 Toyota Tundra, was involved in a scary wreck at Lowe’s. After the race, Hornaday said he was more worried about Skinner than his lead in the Truck Series standings.
“I don’t like doing the points that way,” said Hornaday, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc. “I was more concerned about Skinner’s safety. I heard he got upside down. Rick Carelli my spotter told me he got out and my wife ran down to the infield care center to make sure he was alright. I hate Mike Skinner on the race track but I love him as a brother outside of it. You don’t want to see anybody get hurt.”
Hornaday rallied from being a lap down and passed Matt Crafton for the lead in the waning laps of the race. Hornaday had to fend off a charging Kyle Busch to win the race. But his thoughts were with Skinner afterward.
“Going this fast at Lowe’s and having him, I didn’t actually see the wreck but I heard he got upside down and I seen him getting loose underneath the No. 13 (Johnny Sauter) and I got by it pretty clean,” said Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway cbamp from Palmdale. “You hate to see that like that. Mike is going to be a tough competitor. He’s going to come back from this one.”
David Gilliland, a driver from Riverside, was sixth in the Truck Series race. He will be in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Open All-Star race Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Running in the Truck Series race gave him a little insight for the all-star race.
“I learned that the top groove comes in and is a good passing area,” Gilliland said. “I think we will see a lot of that tomorrow night. You have to go somewhere to pass. Lowe’s is very aero sensitive so you can run high to make up places. We should be able to run the middle to the top tomorrow where we ran the truck tonight.”

Photo: Mike Skinner slides on the side of his truck after an accident with T.J. Bell. Skinner, who led the first 27 laps of the race, walked away from the accident uninjured. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)