Catchfence

Daytona Beach, FL, (July4, 2009) – David Gilliland was caught up in the lap 76 crash that affected five cars ending the day early for his No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS. Gilliland was running in the top 20 at the time and was classified 40th at race end.

After starting from the 19th row at the start, due to qualifying being canceled on Friday, Gilliland, crew chief Richard “Slugger” Labbe and the 71 crew went to work adjusting on the No. 71 Chevy in the first half of the race. The team had finally gotten the Chevy to handle for the Californian when he got collected in a turn three crash.

“I saw smoke up in front of me, I think the nine got into the 12,” Gilliland said. “I checked up, trying to get slowed down and then I got hit in the back and turned, then someone hit me in the left front. After that I was along for the ride. I am really disappointed.”

The car was starting to come to Gilliland after three pit stops.

“I was able to stay with the lead pack there before we were taken out. Slugger and the guys made some good tire adjustments and we made a huge gain. I felt good about the way we’re going with the car. Now we are loading a wrecked race car. It is very unfortunate. I hate to ruin our day like that tonight.”

TRG Motorsports has had bad luck at the super speedway races.

“I hate it for the team. They missed Daytona at the beginning of the year. We were taken out early at Talladega and now this. We were just riding and biding our time. The guys thought there was some weather coming so we were starting to move up a little. We were getting ready for our final adjustments later in the race. This is all a part of restrictor plate racing and we know that, so it is tough. We are going to keep working. This program gets better every weekend. We have had a couple of wrecked race cars the past couple of weekends, with our limited number of guys that makes things difficult.”

Kevin Buckler, TRG Motorsports team principal, is getting a tough baptism to restrictor plate racing.

“Anything can happen when you run these plate races,” Buckler said. “So much of it is out of your own hands – that is tough to grasp. We had a difficult Daytona 500, not making the race and then the early wreck at Talladega after running upfront and now an early exit from the 400. This team is resilient and we will go back, regroup and get ready for Chicagoland. David and Slugger had great communication all night and we were headed toward the front when we became a victim. This team needs some sponsor help so we can keep this great program on the track.”

The series will travel to Chicagoland Speedway for the LifeLock.com 400 to be run on July 11.

TRG Motorsports is based in Mooresville, North Carolina. Currently the team fields a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry as well as a Camping World Truck Series effort and an ARCA RE/MAX Series team. The Racer’s Group was founded in 1993 and has been competing at the top level of sports car racing. TRG’s Porsche sports car program is run out of the company’s headquarters in Petaluma, California. The team has the most wins of any team in the Grand-Am Rolex Series with 28, including the 2005 and 2006 Rolex Series GT championship trophy to go along with wins in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (three) and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

- TRG Motorsports, Press Release