NASCAR Race Mom: David Gilliland returns to Restrictor Plate Racing in Talladega

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

David Gilliland returns to Restrictor Plate
Racing in Talladega

GEICO 500 Sunday, May 01 / 1:00 PM ET

David Gilliland will drive a third entry for Front Row Motorsports in the GEICO 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway.

NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series has used restrictor plates at Talladega Superspeedway since 1988. The device limits the power output of the motor, hence slowing both the acceleration and the overall top speed obtainable. Restrictor plate racing causes drivers to form very large "packs" of cars that run closely together for the majority of the race. Drivers push each other because it is the fastest way around the track.

David Ragan won the Talladega race thanks to Gilliland,

Gilliland, who has been busy overseeing his son Todd’s NASCAR career, has 330 career Sprint Cup starts. His best finish was a second at Sonoma Raceway in June 2008 and at Talladega in May 2013. David Ragan won the Talladega race thanks to Gilliland, who finished second after delivering critical drafting pushes to Ragan in a two-lap overtime finish.

"This is a true David vs. Goliath moment here," Ragan stated at the time after he earned the first victory for Front Row Motorsports (FRM), one of the most underfunded teams in NASCAR's premier series. FRM often has to skimp on tires unlike the powerhouse teams at most of the tracks.

NASCAR Race Mom would love to see David Gilliland collect his first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – he has earned it. He started the 2015 years from thirty-ninth and finished in position twenty.