David Leonard Gilliland (born April 1, 1976) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and team owner. Since 2017, he has operated Tricon Garage, a team that races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team has also competed in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series West, ARCA Menards Series East, and CARS Tour.
Formerly a full-time competitor for a decade in the NASCAR Cup Series, Gilliland is now semi-retired and has competed part-time in the Truck Series, in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra and the ARCA Menards Series East and West, driving for his team. Born in Riverside, California, he is the son of former NASCAR Cup and West Series driver Butch Gilliland, and the father of current full-time Cup Series driver Todd Gilliland.
After competing full-time in the West Series like his father, Gilliland ran part-time in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2006, and scored an unexpected win at Kentucky Speedway. In his first full season in the Cup Series, Gilliland would win the pole for the 2007 Daytona 500.
In 1996, he began working on his father's Winston West Series team. By 1999, Gilliland won the track championship at Perris Auto Speedway (a dirt track). Then, the following year he began a limited season in the AutoZone West Series. In 2003, Gilliland won five races in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series, in the No. 11 Centrifugal Technologies-sponsored Chevrolet. He finished the season with five top-fives and eight top-tens and a sixth-place finish in points.
In 2004, Gilliland announced plans to run the full schedule in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series, in the No. 88 Chevrolet for MRG Motorsports and all non-conflicting NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series (now AutoZone West), races. He got his first AutoZone West win at Mesa Marin Raceway. He was then named NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series Rookie of the Year. He also had two victories in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series.
Gilliland made his first attempt at a major NASCAR race in 2003, at the Las Vegas 350 in the Craftsman Truck Series, but failed to qualify. He announced that Clay Andrews Racing would form in mid-2005. Gilliland made his Busch Series debut at Phoenix, qualifying 28th. However, he was involved with an early crash and finished 43rd. Gilliland made the other Phoenix race later in the year but had the same result. He was 43rd after ignition troubles. Also, he ran the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the Craftsman Truck Series with a 22nd-place finish.
Meanwhile, Gilliland raced in the Grand National Division in 2005 and won the Toyota All-Star Showdown in 2005 when apparent winner Mike Olsen was disqualified for light wheels wider than regulation. The win brought Gilliland to the attention of Busch and Cup series team owners.
Gilliland began running the No. 84 Clay Andrews Chevy part-time in 2006, during which time he was mentored by former Sprint Cup race winner Jerry Nadeau. Gilliland, however, struggled to finish races, earning a best result of 29th in his first four starts of the year. However, in his next outing, Gilliland scored his first career Busch Series win at Kentucky on June 17. Gilliland drove the No. 84 Hype Manufacturing Chevrolet to victory, becoming the first driver of 2006 to win a Busch race who was not also running a full-time Nextel Cup schedule. FX television announcer Hermie Sadler called the victory "the biggest upset in Busch Series history".
Gilliland made his first attempt to make a Cup race in June 2006 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, in the No. 72 Dutch Quality Stone Chevy for CJM Racing, qualifying 31st, and finishing 32nd. In August 2006, Gilliland replaced Elliott Sadler as the driver of the No. 38 M&Ms/Mars Ford in the NEXTEL Cup Series for Yates Racing. On October 7, he qualified on the pole for the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first pole of his career in the Cup Series.
Gilliland went full-time in the No. 38 car in 2007 with M&M's and Mars returning as sponsors. However, Mars decided before the 2007 season to move its 2008 sponsorship to teammate Ricky Rudd’s 2007 ride at Yates, in preparation for moving to Kyle Busch in 2008. This meant Gilliland needed to impress in 2007 to attract a sponsor for the No. 38.
Gilliland started the season with a bang, winning his second career pole at the 2007 Daytona 500, his first points-paying race at the track. In the race itself, Gilliland finished 8th. Gilliland also drove part-time in the Busch Series for Team Rensi Motorsports with sponsorship from FreeCreditReport.com in 2007, splitting the driving duties at Rensi with rookie Richard Johns. His best finish in Busch was a tenth at Daytona.
In qualifying for the 2007 Aaron's 499 at Talladega on April 28, Gilliland recorded a speed of 192.069 miles per hour (309.105 km/h), which was identical to Jeff Gordon for the pole position. As Gordon had the points lead at the time of the race, Gilliland started the race in second, giving the pole to Gordon. Gilliland finished 28th in the Cup standings in 2007, recording two top-tens in his rookie season.
In 2008, Gilliland’s Busch Series sponsor FreeCreditReport.com, and Yates’ Busch Series sponsor Citi Financial became the new sponsors of the No. 38 Cup car. He also ran three Nationwide Series races, one for Travis Carter and Carl Haas, and two for Mike Curb and Gary Baker. Gilliland recorded a career-best second place finish in Cup at Sonoma Raceway. Kyle Busch won the race with Gilliland's old sponsor, M&M's, as Gilliland finished runner-up in his FreeCreditReport.com-sponsored Ford. At Texas in the fall, Gilliland was penalized by NASCAR for wrecking Juan Pablo Montoya. Gilliland again had two top-ten finishes in 2008, improving slightly to 27th in points.
In January 2009, his No. 38 Sprint Cup team was closed due to a lack of sponsorship, and his points from 2008 were moved to the Hall of Fame Racing team of Bobby Labonte.
After sitting out the 2009 Daytona 500 without a ride, he was hired by TRG Motorsports for the rest of the 2009 season to drive the No. 71 Chevrolet, with sponsorships from TaxSlayer, Capital Window, and American Monster. However, the season proved tough as TRG was short on funding by May, forcing Gilliland to start and park on several occasions. In August, Gilliland failed to qualify a second TRG car, the No. 70, at Watkins Glen. By September, Labonte was now part-time at Hall of Fame and it was announced he would bring much-needed funding to TRG in seven of the final twelve races, replacing Gilliland who would not have been able to run full races. Gilliland did run the other five races for TRG in the No. 71 with limited funding.
Gilliland then landed a three-race deal to drive a new part-time fourth Joe Gibbs Racing car, the No. 02 Farm Bureau Insurance Toyota.
In addition to his part-time rides at the No. 02 and the No. 71, in the second half of 2009 Gilliland also ran one race each in Cup for the Wood Brothers, in the iconic No. 21 Ford, for Robby Gordon in his No. 7 Toyota, and for Phoenix Racing in the No. 09 Chevy, also running several Nationwide Series races for Phoenix. Gilliland also failed to qualify a Gordon-owned No. 04 Toyota at Kansas. At California in October, Gilliland relieved a sick Kyle Busch after parking the TRG car.
Gilliland managed to attempt all but two races in 2009 (the 500 and the fall Loudon race), salvaging 37th in points despite running for so many different teams. His best finish was a fourteenth at Las Vegas in the No. 71, with a nineteenth place at Atlanta in the Wood Brothers No. 21 being his second-best run of 2009.