{"id":1992,"date":"2011-11-17T21:00:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T02:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=1992"},"modified":"2011-11-18T02:42:08","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T07:42:08","slug":"a-conversation-with-nascar-driver-david-gilliland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/a-conversation-with-nascar-driver-david-gilliland.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with NASCAR driver David Gilliland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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David Gilliland, driver of the #38 Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s perhaps no better example of a NASCAR driver\u2019s unpredictable career path than Sprint Cup competitor David Gilliland. Since 2005, when he first made the leap from regional racing on the West Coast to the NASCAR ranks, Gilliland has experienced thrilling highs, devastating lows and long periods of time in limbo and equally long stretches in the grind.<\/p>\n

Now driving the #34 Taco Bell Ford for Front Row Motorsports, the California native may not be racking up Cup wins and Top 10 finishes in an underfunded car, but he remains thankful for the opportunity and even more thankful for a supportive family that helps him keep things in perspective.<\/p>\n

Inspiring Athletes caught up with Gilliland at the race in Kansas last month where he talks about his unique journey to NASCAR\u2019s Sprint Cup, how on-site ministry has impacted his life, what it was like playing golf with one of the game\u2019s greats and why he\u2019s better equipped to handle racing\u2019s extreme highs and lows:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: Your Nationwide Series victory at the 2006 Meier 300 in Kentucky unexpectedly rocketed you to Sprint Cup and set off a chain of events that could best be described as a rollercoaster ride. You probably know better than anyone about the ebb and flow that comes with being a NASCAR driver.<\/p>\n

David Gilliland: There are definitely a lot of ups and downs in this sport. With the economy right now, everything\u2019s kind of hurting right now. There aren\u2019t as many competitive teams and there isn\u2019t the sponsorship dollars out there that it takes to field 43 competitive cars. When we won at Kentucky, it was a deal similar to (the #34 Taco Bell team). It was a part-time deal and then we won. I had been talking to the Cup guys about doing some stuff and once we won that race, I could pick wherever I wanted to go, which was a good feeling. Now we\u2019re back again clawing and fighting to be competitive on a weekly basis. It\u2019s difficult at times but it\u2019s also gratifying to help build something at Front Row Motorsports and to be part of getting it to the next level.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Your family has grown since that life-changing win in Kentucky. How much do you have to rely on close family and friends to get you through these challenges?<\/p>\n

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David Gilliland signs an autograph for a fan at Kansas Speedway (Photo by Chad Bonham)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilliland: It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s tough. My wife is definitely my biggest supporter. She\u2019s got to deal with me when I come home and I\u2019m upset because we didn\u2019t run as well as we want and we can\u2019t run as well as we want to because of our budget and what we\u2019re up against. At time, it\u2019s very frustrating but we rely on good friends and good people like Bob Jenkins our car owner. He\u2019s aware of the resources we have and what we\u2019re up against, which makes it easier as well. He\u2019s not expecting us to come out here and win races with what we have. Someday we\u2019d like to and that\u2019s what we\u2019re here trying to build. But family and friends are definitely a key element in not just getting through this sport but getting through life.<\/p>\n

Bonham: I keep hearing from other drivers that this sport is all about relationships. Is that true for you?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: Yeah it is. It\u2019s like a family. You\u2019re here four days a week compared to being at home for three. We have two weeks off next year, so you\u2019re definitely away from your family more than you\u2019d like to be. With the crew members and my race team, it\u2019s a business but it goes a lot deeper than that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How much do you appreciate having the ministry of Motor Racing Outreach at the track every week?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: MRO is huge for us and for our family and my wife and kids. We\u2019re big supporters of MRO. We love it. It\u2019s great having someone to pray with you before you get in the car and having a place for our kids to go during the race when they\u2019re here. We have a service after the drivers meeting every week. It\u2019s good. I\u2019m definitely glad they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

Bonham: When you\u2019re dealing with something like you did a couple years ago after losing your ride in the #38 car, do you utilize having the MRO folks around by going to them with your frustrations and your emotional and spiritual needs?<\/p>\n

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David Gilliland celebrates his first NASCAR Nationwide Series win in 2006 at Meijer 300 in Kentucky (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilliland: For sure. I\u2019ll go to them for anything. They\u2019re there 24 hours a day for us. That\u2019s a good feeling to have. Whether you want to talk about death in the family or anything that\u2019s bothering you, they\u2019re there and we\u2019ve gone to them on multiple occasions as a family. They\u2019re always there for us and we really appreciate that.<\/p>\n

Bonham: The cars are much safer these days, but is there still an element of uncertainty that makes that pre-race prayer and your personal faith more valuable?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: With what we do, there\u2019s a risk involved. I don\u2019t personally think about that on a daily basis, but just praying before getting in the car makes a big difference for us. To have them here definitely puts your mind at ease and it means a lot.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What got you into this sport in the first place?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: My dad raced when I was a kid. So I grew up going to the racetracks. It\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever wanted to do. I never played baseball or soccer or football or basketball. I never really wanted to. Racing is all I\u2019ve ever wanted to do since as far back as I can remember. That drive is definitely what\u2019s helped me get here. My son is 11 now and he\u2019s playing soccer and everything else. He wants to race and he\u2019s been racing since he was four, but I want him to try other things and make sure this is really what he wants to do.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You didn\u2019t play most of those traditional team sports, but you did play golf, right?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: I did play golf. My dad owned an auto repair business and he was like, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to learn to play golf. It\u2019s so important for business stuff.\u201d That\u2019s why I tried to learn how to play. It was good that I learned because you do go golfing for charity events and stuff like that. It\u2019s good to be able to at least hit the ball.<\/p>\n

Bonham: And wasn\u2019t Tiger Woods one of your teammates at Western High School in Anaheim?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: We played together from fifth grade through 11th grade together.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What do remember about that experience?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
David Gilliland in his #34 Taco Bell Ford Fusion (Photo courtesy of NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilliland: The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind over everything is how focused he was on golf. That\u2019s how I was with racing. That\u2019s what it takes.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You see a lot of pictures of drivers right before a race and you can tell by looking at their eyes how focused they are on what\u2019s about to happen. Is that similar to the kind of focus a golfer like Tiger Woods has when he approaches the tee box?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: Definitely. You have to be a hundred percent focused on what you\u2019re doing to do it right.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Going back to your jump from Nationwide to Sprint Cup, were you prepared for the increased level of competition?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: I was ready. I felt like I was ready. It was a little bit difficult because some of the tracks I hadn\u2019t been to yet. It was definitely a lot to take in like the grind of the schedule. I came from part-time Nationwide deal so we weren\u2019t racing every week. The competition at the Sprint Cup level is the greatest of any motorsport, in my opinion, and it was a lot to take in for sure. I don\u2019t regret doing it. A lot of people ask me, \u201cDo you think you moved up too soon?\u201d And I don\u2019t think so. The stuff I needed to learn, you can learn there or you can learn from a full-time Nationwide deal or a full-time truck deal. You were going to have to learn it sometime or another.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Are you comfortable where you\u2019re at now with this team and how confident are you that this opportunity will be around in the long-term?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
David Gilliland cranks up his car during practice for the Sprint Cup spring race in Martinsville last spring (Photo by John Harrelson\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilliland: With this sport, I don\u2019t think you can be too confident. David Ragan doesn\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing next year. Roush is cutting back. RCR is probably going to cut back a team and (Clint) Bowyer\u2019s moving. Dale Jr., can\u2019t find sponsorship for his Nationwide team. It takes money to run in this series. Money is tight right now. With what it costs to run and the money that\u2019s out there, it\u2019s tough. Hopefully we can do it for a long time.<\/p>\n

Bonham: From an emotional and spiritual perspective, do you think you\u2019re better prepared to handle the uncertainty now than you were two years ago?<\/p>\n

Gilliland: Yeah, for sure. The last couple of years I\u2019ve had a ride and then I\u2019ve not had a ride. I had a contract with Yates for three years and after two years they didn\u2019t have sponsorship so I found myself without a ride. I\u2019ve been through enough these last couple of years so that I can deal with it better now than I did before. I\u2019ve been able to take a step back and see that I\u2019ve got a beautiful family, great kids and a great wife. If something did happen and we weren\u2019t able to do something, it wouldn\u2019t be that horrible.<\/p>\n

Stay up on the latest news from David Gilliland by visiting his official website HERE<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends! There\u2019s perhaps no better example of a NASCAR driver\u2019s unpredictable career path than Sprint Cup competitor David Gilliland. Since 2005, when he first made the leap from regional racing on the West Coast to the NASCAR ranks, Gilliland has experienced thrilling highs, devastating lows and long periods…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388,5],"tags":[766,660,530,405,801,733,802,198,401,10,25,509,241,24,803,545,800],"class_list":["post-1992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","tag-clint-bowyer","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","tag-david-gilliland","tag-david-ragan","tag-front-row-motorsports","tag-kansas-speedway","tag-kentucky-speedway","tag-motor-racing-outreach","tag-mro","tag-nascar","tag-nationwide-series","tag-richard-childress-racing","tag-roush-fenway-racing","tag-sprint-cup","tag-taco-bell","tag-tiger-woods","tag-yates-racing"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with NASCAR driver David Gilliland - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2011\/11\/a-conversation-with-nascar-driver-david-gilliland.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with NASCAR driver David Gilliland - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Click “Like” to share this with your friends! There\u2019s perhaps no better example of a NASCAR driver\u2019s unpredictable career path than Sprint Cup competitor David Gilliland. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. 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