Sunday
David Gilliland, 2011 NSCS SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500 Race Recap
Press Release
Starting Position: 30th
Finishing Position: 22nd
David Gilliland and the No. 34 Taco Bell/TMone Ford team were eager to get back on the track after kicking off the season with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500. Starting the Subway Fresh Fit 500 in second place in championship points, Gilliland looked to make another strong run with new sponsor TMone on board.
Rolling off 30th, Gilliland reported his car was a bit “tight” in the opening laps and fell back several positions. Crew chief Peter Sospenzo and the Taco Bell/TMone team worked to loosen up the machine, enabling Gilliland to turn faster laps and move up the board. The car was getting better and Gilliland had regained several positions when a 13-car crash on Lap 68 did some damage to his Ford Fusion as he dodged his way through the spinning and wrecking field.
After a 14-minute red-flag period, the pit crew went to work on the No. 34 car, patching it up and getting it back on track, ready to race. Gilliland restarted in the 22nd position and battled for position the rest of the race, moving in and out of the top 20. The damage from the wreck took away some of the car’s competitiveness, but Gilliland hung steady and finished in 22nd. He is now 10th in championship points.
The team welcomed TMone as an associate sponsor on the car this week. The Iowa-based company is a leading front-office business process outsourcing (BPO) firm specializing in customer relationship management (CRM) and customer service selling (CSS) for many Fortune 500 companies. TMone has been on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing companies in the U.S. the last four years and is creating jobs in the heartland.
Comments from Taco Bell/TMone Ford team driver David Gilliland after the Phoenix race:
“Our team has definitely taken strides but I’m a little disappointed. We had a better car than 22nd today. We got involved in one of those accidents and kind of messed up the left-front fender and front end. Overall, we’ve made huge gains for Front Row Motorsports at these type of tracks. Last year we were terrible at these type of tracks and from the time we unloaded this weekend we were competitive, so I’m real proud of that. We’re gonna take what we learned here, hopefully not get tore up in the next one, and bring it home a little better, but it was a good points day overall for what we’re trying to do here. And we had a new sponsor, TMone, on board for it, so we’re definitely happy about that. We look forward forward to getting some better runs for them.
“The FR 9 engine is awesome. I just told Peter (Sospenzo) today, we got in that accident, but last year we left here thinking we could use a little more motor to run with these guys and we needed to upgrade that with Roush-Yates, and we did that this year. That is no longer an issue and that really feels good coming to the race track knowing that you have the power to run up front.”
About Front Row Motorsports:
Front Row Motorsports is a Statesville, N.C.-based race team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Formed in 2005 by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, the team has competed in NASCAR racing in each year since its inception, expanding full-time to the premier Sprint Cup Series in 2009. The team partners with Ford Racing and Roush-Yates Racing Engines to field the No. 34 Taco Bell/TMone Ford driven by David Gilliland and the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford driven by Travis Kvapil.
- Breaking Limits Marketing for Front Row Motorsports, Press Release
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