Nascar Videos And Information

Question: Is david gilliland the most underappreciated driver in nascar?

(Posted by: JBM on 2010-02-05 20:47:59)

I think so. He was put in a yates car with little to no sponsorship and little to no experience and kept it inside the top ten. he may not be championship material but that is still pretty impressive.

Posted by: Calorchard on 2010-02-06, 09:50:25

How many teams last year came to DG and asked him to drive for them ?? Woods bros., TRG , JGR , Robbie Gordon ( I think I may be missing one). DG was a hired gun for all of them and made the show for all of them without the top 35 points BS , and brought the cars home without mishap. DG has his roots in small track ( dirt and asphalt ) racing , car building & family ties racing. He has a rocket for the Daytona 500 from Robbie Gordon !! Get er done !!

Posted by: Liam M on 2010-02-05, 21:58:51

Can't stand the man. So, I may be biased, but he seems like a no talent floater that teams only ever turn to when the purse-stings get tight. He's a great fit for a team that wants him to wreck a lead lap car so they can pass him a few laps later.

Posted by: bubastiss on 2010-02-05, 22:29:02

He hasn't done anything in the sport. Sure, he won a Busch race a few years back, but that's it. He was put in a Yates car and still could not produce. Nice guy and all, but hasn't earned a lot of respect as a talented driver.

Posted by: AJ W on 2010-02-05, 22:51:41

I don't think so. If he ran more races in the top 10, and still received the kind of attention he gets now (or lack there of), then he'd be under appreciated. He just doesn't have the stats to be too highly respected.

Posted by: maddmike on 2010-02-06, 08:03:28

Last year he did more with less than any other driver. He is the second fastest of the GOGH drivers in practice at Daytona.

Posted by: Jimbo_uk on 2010-02-06, 08:15:13

I think so too! He has done very well with the equipment he has had. JGR ,and the other teams he subbed for last season,seems to rate him and even though there are more drivers than rides these days he remains in demand. To those who says he crashes a lot the stats says otherwise. And seeing this is NASCAR it would be strange if he had never wrecked! You have to remember that he started late has a driver and has got this far on talent and not money! no mean feat these days you have to admit!! I feel certain that if he is given time in a top team eg JGR I would not be surprised to see him continue to improve and move into chase contention. Hopefully this season will lead to that chance. Thanks for reading

Posted by: Riddell on 2010-02-06, 08:53:55

David Gilliland is absolutely the most under appreciated driver in NASCAR. The above posts certainly indicate it is true. He has won in every level except Cup and that will change as soon as he gets a good car chief, crew chief and pit crew. He won in only his 7th Busch series start in an underfunded that built their own engines! How 'bout that 2nd place at Sonoma? And yes, he is a very nice guy. I've seen him go out of his way to be courteous, empathetic and downright generous to his fans. ...And taking out Juan Pablo in Texas was a stroke of genious and applauded by almost all in the garage and by most of us sitting at home watching. My only problem with that whole deal is "why did it take him so long? "

Posted by: mbl on 2010-02-06, 09:21:17

I liked the guy until that rediculous stunt he pulled on Montoya. He should've been kicked out of the sport forever.

Posted by: Edward on 2010-02-06, 11:16:29

We've all seen the JPM video,get over it.JPM has. Gilliland is a competent veteran driver who has never had the benefit of a top caliber ride-equipment,crewchief and pitcrew-and he may never have that,but he has made the most of what he's got and in my opinion still has upside and is a solid fit in the series. Best of luck to him this season in yet another underfunded team in the FRM #38.

Posted by: Heather on 2010-02-06, 11:33:24

Haha...you JPM fans are cracking me up. Saying you don't like David cause he wrecked JPM. Let's talk about how many drivers JPM has wrecked. Yeah...pretty much too many to count...definitely way more than David has!

Posted by: Bottle Rocket Betty on 2010-02-06, 14:21:08

David Gilliland is a great qualifier; there's no doubt about that. We all know that Tony Stewart called David Ragan a "dart without feathers, " but I'd like to call David Gilliland a guided missile controlled by a monkey. It's not just JPM that he's taken out. For instance, he's taken out Matt Kenseth, a quasi-teammate (when Yates was a satellite team of Roush), more than once. According to Wikipedia, his average finishing position is 29th, and he only has 4 top 10 finishes, which is horrible for a driver with over 100 starts. So, any appreciation Gilliland gets is probably more than he deserves.