Phoenix: David Gilliland qualifying report

Gilliland Qualifies American Monster Chevy in 27th at Phoenix

Avondale, Arizona (April 17, 2009) - David Gilliland, driving the No. 71 American Monster Chevrolet Impala SS, qualified 27th today for tomorrow's running of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 499 to be run at Phoenix International Raceway.

Dav phoe qual Hot on the heels of announcing a primary sponsor this morning, David Gilliland used the motivation to put the American Monster Chevrolet in the 14th row for tomorrow evening's 5:00 p.m. PT race start. The native Californian put in a lap time of 27,170 and 133 mph, his best of day.

"We have had a really good weekend so far," Gilliland said. "I feel good about the American Monster Chevrolet. The car has good speed. We had some problems there in the last practice, but were able to get it back to where it needs to be and I feel good. The car handled well and was fast in race trim. We qualified better than we ran in practice, I am happy we are in the race."

Day time to night time running for the race doesn't concern the team.

"We will put in some extra spring rubbers in so we will have more adjustment throughout the race. This track doesn't seem to change too much, it really just gets faster. It also gains grip and that makes it faster."

Gilliland has a good driving car for the race.

Phoenix qual "It is very comfortable, which is what you need to be fast here. We are looking to welcome American Monster to NASCAR with a good run tomorrow night. Slugger has done a good job on strategy all year. We have the No. 8 team pitting the car this weekend, so I am excited to see what those guys can do. I was able to pass a lot of cars in practice and ran side-by-side with a lot of guys and the car was stable all the way around."

Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports team principal, has a sponsor on the car and is looking forward to a good race tomorrow.

"The guys had a good car right off of the trailer," Buckler said. "David really knows this track and has won here in the Camping World West Series before. With new sponsor and partner, American Monster on the car we are going to have a good race. We recruited a top level pit crew for the race and we are improving as a team every week. These are very exciting times for our hot little team. We are showing what it means to be an American Monster! We have all of the ingredients for a good result tomorrow evening."

Gilliland was able to get additional track time in the NASCAR Camping World West Series where he put the No. 89 car of Daryl Wong on the pole. He led the first four laps before a right front tire let go putting him into the turn one wall ending his run.

-credit: trgm