[jks812]

BROOKLYN, Mich -- Tony Stewart was none too pleased Saturday with David Gilliland, who caused considerable damage to Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet during the final Nextel Cup practice prior to this Sunday's Citizen's Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
The accident occurred when Gilliland was headed to pit road in his No. 38 Ford at the end of a long run on old tires. Stewart was just coming out of the pits on new tires.



"He checks up at the end of the straightaway, and we run into him," a frustrated Stewart said. "It's really, really easy to see it. They've got two different cameras views of it, and he never stuck his hand out of the window [to signal he was going into the pits]. It really screwed up a really good racecar for [Sunday]. It didn't need to happen. It shouldn't happen."
Crew members from all three Joe Gibbs Racing teams worked hard to repair front-end damage to Stewart's machine, pounding away on it. But the Nextel Cup garage closed 90 minutes after practice, so they didn't have much time. They will be allowed to resume working on the car when the garage opens again at 7 a.m. Sunday.
Stewart said he was hoping NASCAR officials would talk to Gilliland about what happened.
"I went to [Cup Series director] John Darby and asked if he'd bring him in and talk to him about it. [Gilliland said] he doesn't know why he didn't do it [meaning hand signal]," Stewart said. "That's the part that scares me. At this level, you should know why you're doing the things you're doing. And he's a nice kid. The thing is, I actually like the kid.
"But this is twice now that he's crashed us, and both times he doesn't have an answer for why. That's the part that scares you as a driver."
Stewart said Gilliland apologized to him afterward, but said that isn't enough.
"It wasn't the apology I was looking for; it was the why did it happen? That's the part that worries me and scares me the most," Stewart said. "Why did that happen? There wasn't any reason for it to happen. ... It's like we've talked about before: there is more to being a racecar driver than driving a racecar. You have to be able to race with 42 other guys. That's not drive with 42 other guys, but race with them. When you make mistakes like that, it doesn't make the other 42 other guys you're racing with very comfortable every time they see your car number."
Stewart wondered openly if Gilliland, who has only 29 career Cup starts and made the jump to the Cup level last year after only limited experience in the Busch Series, is truly qualified to be driving at the Cup level for Robert Yates Racing.
"We went in the trailer and talked about it, and hopefully it will wake him up a little bit," Stewart said. "I want to be on this kid's side, but it's hard to be on his side when you see him on the track and you see the mistakes he makes week in and week out. That's not what you do at this level.
"That's why you have the Busch Series. That's why you have the Truck Series. That's why you go through those growing pains in those series before you get to the premier series in NASCAR. It doesn't mean you're not going to make mistakes here, but there's a common variable here. You look at every race, and if there's somebody that's having a bad day, it's normally him. At some point everybody has to look at, why is this happening? It's all right if he has a bad day on his own, but when he starts causing other people to have a bad day for a reason he doesn't have an answer for, that starts raising a red flag."

[jks812]

I happen to agree with Tony alot on this. I think they are moving them from Busch to Cup to quick. Gilliland didn't race that much in Busch, did he? Maybe they should have left him in Busch for another year. But he's not the only one.
I also blame the cup drivers some too though. If they would stop taking up over half of the field in the Busch races these guys might get alittle more experience. Tony said thats why they have those series. Well, he and alot of others have put their time in there, so they need to let others now.
But above all I blame the owners. Almost all of em have Busch teams. Why not let that driver drive there for a couple of years and then bring them to Cup.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by jks812

I happen to agree with Tony alot on this. I think they are moving them from Busch to Cup to quick. Gilliland didn't race that much in Busch, did he? Maybe they should have left him in Busch for another year. But he's not the only one.
I also blame the cup drivers some too though. If they would stop taking up over half of the field in the Busch races these guys might get alittle more experience. Tony said thats why they have those series. Well, he and alot of others have put their time in there, so they need to let others now.
But above all I blame the owners. Almost all of em have Busch teams. Why not let that driver drive there for a couple of years and then bring them to Cup.

BINGO !!! All of your answers I agree with. First off and most important, make the Busch series a place to learn. Cup drivers should remain in the cup series. We cannot really control what owners do as far as bringing up new drivers but it certainly is in the best interest of the owner and sponsor to have qualified drivers. Much less of an expense when it comes to keeping cars on the track and in one piece.

Possibly if someone other than Tony were complaining, the complaint might be more valid. Tony has made more than his share of stupid and intentional mistakes. Sorry but the words that come from his mouth/brain have about zero credibility with me.

[Phils20]

The only problem isn't with what he said exactly, but with what the Busch, and Truck, Series to some extent, have become. Too many drivers from cup are there.

Where/when do young drivers learn the "NASCAR Way", if they are in the back of the pack, if they can even get on the track How do you learn how to lead and win, how to handle pressure.

There Busch drivers say all the right things, but it has to SUCK to have drivers like Harvick, Edwards, and Martin come in here and take your glory, ad chance to learn, every week. How do you develop a name for yourself?? Do you even get chance to make a mistake when you are the best Busch driver and you are running in 17th place?

I know this drifted off topic a bit, but last nights Busch race was great, getting to see the joy of the 1-2 finishers! The drama of fresh blood getting a chance to rise to the top!

I hope to get to see the footage of the 20-38 incident, I'll comment further on that when I do!

(soap box back in the garage now! )

[MIKE28]

I Am A 2o Year Ryr Fan And I Totally Agree With Tony About The Fact That David Is A Nice Kid, But Needed To Run The Busch Series For Awhile Before Cup. He Has Talent, But I Can See By His Performances On The Track That He Is Not Totally Ready For Cup. As Hard As It Is To Get Good Sponsors In Nascar, Ryr Sure Are Taking A Big Chance With Masterfoods(m&m), A 20 Million Dollar A Year Sponsor, By Running So Bad Every Week. They Are Not Giving Masterfoods A Reason To Want To Stay And Sponsor There Cars. Time For 2 New Drivers And Quit This Patch Work They Like To Do All The Time.

[LSC9901]

Keep in mind that Tony's owner is part of the problem. Many of the cup teams run in the Busch series and by doing that they limit the number of Busch drivers that can actually run in the Busch races, therefore limiting the amount of experience they can gain.

M&M had to know what they were doing when they signed on with a rookie. Nobody invests $20 million +/- blindly.

[wingkey1]

Was watching. Over the event and subsequent "reporting" we went through several observations, thoughts, perspectives.

Initially thought - 20 car ran somebody over. Did not know initially it was the 38.

With replay from inside of the 20 thought - 38 caused it by an unusually significant speed decrease without, seemingly, some hand signal to indicate it was coming, or a move out of the way prior to slow down. But then anymore the driver "wave" is much more difficult to detect what with all of the head and shoulder level restraints, pads, cooling hoses, hans.

Then Kyle Petty brought up an interesting point that prompted the thought possibly both the 20 and the 38 may have been equally at fault. Kyle's thought went something like - unlike many sports (football may have been his example), during our practices there are multiple individual competing teams preparing for many different phases of the game. Folks are out there with brand new tires setting up for short run "go fast now", at the same time others are mapping the lap by lap slow down of wearing tires. Lap and corner entry speeds vary tremendously and you (driver) better keep it in mind constantly. If not, you could have an incident that looks just like the 20 and 38 thing just seen.

Then Tony spoke confirming the "brake check" appearance of the speed reduction. Then Tony spoke and spoke and spoke, and the thought was - take it off line for goodness sake. Monte Dutton quoting Kurt Busch - "he's NASCAR's version of Rosie O'Donnell.

Gillilands take - got run over.

Final thoughts here - 38 slowed too much too fast. Granted (I seem to recall) he was entering or was in the turn. So in this case, Tony was right in indicating the 38's action was the predominant cause for the incident. The running mouth, not quite so right.

[jks812]

I don't listen to alot of what Tony has to say anymore either. But he's right about this. But at the same time that he's complaining they need to spend more time in busch learning, he's one of the cup drivers that take that spot away from them.
I agree, last nights busch race was great. Was nice to hear about and see actual busch drivers instead of just the cup drivers for a change.
Alot of the cup owners own a busch team too. They talk about all these development drivrs they have. Well put them in the busch car and develop them instead of putting cup drivers in there.

[MIKE28]

Masterfoods Had To Be Promised Something In Order To Even Sponsor A Rookie With Limited Experience. One Thing We Do Know Is Results Mean Everything And Masterfoods Will Not Re-up With Yates Without Positive Results. David Is Not The Answer. Masterfoods Can Leave After 2008 Then What Do They Do? They Dont Even Have An Attractive Driver To Whoo A Big Time Sponsor. That Is Why They Need To Go After Kyle, Biffle, Or Someone Who Are Winning Races Before They Lose Masterfoods.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by MIKE28

Masterfoods Had To Be Promised Something In Order To Even Sponsor A Rookie With Limited Experience. One Thing We Do Know Is Results Mean Everything And Masterfoods Will Not Re-up With Yates Without Positive Results. David Is Not The Answer. Masterfoods Can Leave After 2008 Then What Do They Do? They Dont Even Have An Attractive Driver To Whoo A Big Time Sponsor. That Is Why They Need To Go After Kyle, Biffle, Or Someone Who Are Winning Races Before They Lose Masterfoods.

I'm not convinced that M&M's was or could be promised anything. Some of what happens in racing is luck. Good and bad. With an inexperienced driver, there isn't a lot that could be promised. The advertising exposure and tax write-off has to be worth something.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by MIKE28

Masterfoods Had To Be Promised Something In Order To Even Sponsor A Rookie With Limited Experience. One Thing We Do Know Is Results Mean Everything And Masterfoods Will Not Re-up With Yates Without Positive Results. David Is Not The Answer. Masterfoods Can Leave After 2008 Then What Do They Do? They Dont Even Have An Attractive Driver To Whoo A Big Time Sponsor. That Is Why They Need To Go After Kyle, Biffle, Or Someone Who Are Winning Races Before They Lose Masterfoods.

"the sky if falling .. the sky if falling!"

let's see: is Masterfoods getting their money's worth from Gilliland? in his 29 races in Cup spread over the last half of '06 and to date in '07, Gilliland has 2 poles: one each year - one for the Daytona 500 and one for Talladega and a front row start at the spring Talladega .. I'd say that's lots of exposure for Masterfoods. Also during that time Gilliland has qualified in the top 15 a total of 6 times, and finished in the top 15 5 times (more exposure) and he's managed to be 28th in driver points.

you're right, get rid of him. he's a liability.

(Mikey should be so lucky!!!)

[wackowacko]

here it goes again !!!!! TONY is "MR. DO NO WRONG",,.....What a idiot...!!!!!!....is he not on probation ?..or was that lifted at the end of last year ?can't remember.....what in the hell is it going to take for NASCAR OR Gibbs to realize.,,,the guy is making a fool out of them !!!!!!! oh i know he brings in "$$$$$$$$"" ,,who cares !!!! can his ass..!!!!..put a youg gun in there that respects the sport.!!!!,,,,and does not CRY everytime he gets hit or in this case does the hitting and then turns around and still thinks he has done no wrong.!!!!the guy is a "TIME BOMB" waiting to go off every WEEKEND.!!!!!...man he makes alot of people look like fools including HOME DEPOT'S racing programs,,,it also brings out the fool in me to write this crap.!!!!!!....as they say if they are talking about ya then they have not forgotten ya....maybe i need to go off on Robby Gordon instead... .....

[jks812]

Originally Posted by wackowacko

here it goes again !!!!! TONY is "MR. DO NO WRONG",,.....What a idiot...!!!!!!....is he not on probation ?..or was that lifted at the end of last year ?can't remember.....what in the hell is it going to take for NASCAR OR Gibbs to realize.,,,the guy is making a fool out of them !!!!!!! oh i know he brings in "$$$$$$$$"" ,,who cares !!!! can his ass..!!!!..put a youg gun in there that respects the sport.!!!!,,,,and does not CRY everytime he gets hit or in this case does the hitting and then turns around and still thinks he has done no wrong.!!!!the guy is a "TIME BOMB" waiting to go off every WEEKEND.!!!!!...man he makes alot of people look like fools including HOME DEPOT'S racing programs,,,it also brings out the fool in me to write this crap.!!!!!!....as they say if they are talking about ya then they have not forgotten ya....maybe i need to go off on Robby Gordon instead... .....

Dang....I meant was he right about they are bringing guys from Busch over to Cup to soon, before they get enough experience. I mean, they are taking some that have run like 11 races in Busch, they win a Busch race and boom, they move them to cup.

[wackowacko]

i know should not have spilled my beans on TS on this topic, i apologize,.....AS far has the guys being dumped into the "big" cars to soon..i do not agree with that ,,,because whats the difference when the "vets" go to run the small cars with them??....you could get bit either way TONY.!!!!.......they got to learn sooner or later or should i say get run over sooner or later

[tkj24]

Originally Posted by wackowacko

i know should not have spilled my beans on TS on this topic, i apologize,.....AS far has the guys being dumped into the "big" cars to soon..i do not agree with that ,,,because whats the difference when the "vets" go to run the small cars with them??....you could get bit either way TONY.!!!!.......they got to learn sooner or later or should i say get run over sooner or later

I don't care for Tony, but, In the Busch races Tony isn't running for points.