Gilliland plows into tire barriers early at Sonoma Raceway
Front Row Motorsports' David Gilliland was the first driver to get off track during Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. The driver of the No. 38 Ford drove off the track in Turn 10 and into the tire barriers head-on.
The hard contact caused heavy damage to the front of Gilliland's car and brought out the first caution of Sunday's race at Lap 21.
The incident brought most of the field to pit road, but Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart opted to stay out. Pole sitter AJ Allmendinger won the race off pit road, followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, David Ragan, Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"That was a bad deal," Gilliland said after the incident. "I just passed Sam Hornish up in (Turn) Seven and went through the esses and I just told Donnie (Wingo, crew chief), 'I think I've got a left-front going down. It's soft.' We were gonna come in and pit that lap and I eased up a little bit going through (Turn) 10, but it never turned and once you get off in the dirt there that's a bad place to get off.
"It was a big hit, but I'm OK. I'm just bummed out for the situation," he said. "This is a great race track. We really love racing out here and I've had some great finishes here, but we'll have to wait until next year to try again."
Despite the heavy contact, Gilliland said he was "absolutely" pleased with the tire barriers he struck.
"Who knows if it would have been just the concrete," he said. "That definitely softened the blow a little bit."
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