Double duty for David Gilliland

David Gilliland made his way from Irwindale Speedway to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series by racing tour cars and late models at the tiny half-mile oval in the San Gabriel Valley and small tracks throughout California. One of the bigger tracks was Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
But the driver from Riverside hasn't been in a tour car since winning the Toyota All-Star Showdown race at Irwindale Speedway a couple years ago.
He returns to the West Series this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. He will be in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race on Sunday and the West Series race on Saturday.
"I'm very excited to return. We decided to run the race so I could have some extra time on the track but I really want to race it regardless of the seat time," said Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Ford for Robert Yates Racing at the Cup Series level. "I'm looking at the double duty as a positive. You know the West Series race is a little longer than the tour race I won there and also the cars are a little bit heavier; they don't turn as well so you have to have a little bit more finesse. You really can't throw them around like you would the tour cars. The No. 38 team is pitching in to help out on pit road on Saturday and we'd like to see a repeat of the success that we had in the Southwest Series."
David's father Butch is also a winner at Infineon Raceway. Butch Gilliland won consecutive West Series races at Infineon Raceway in 1996 and 1997.
"It's special to me that we both won there," Gilliland said. "I was working with my dad when he won the races there in the West Series but I never got a chance to run a race there while I was racing in that Series. I've spent a lot of time as a fan watching my dad race at this track and now to have my dad there to help me out with any questions I may have is going to make it a very special weekend for both of us."