Racing career

NASCAR

Regional series

In 1996, he began working on his father's Winston West Series (now K&N Pro Series West) 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 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.

National 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".

Sprint Cup Series

Gilliland made his first attempt to make a Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California, in the No. 72 CJM Racing Chevrolet, qualifying 31st, and finishing 32nd. In August 2006, Gilliland replaced Elliott Sadler as the driver of the M&Ms-sponsored Ford in the NEXTEL Cup Series. In qualifying for the 2007 Aaron's 499 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. On October 7, he qualified on the pole for the UAW Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, the first pole of his career. He won his second career pole at the Daytona 500, his first points-paying race at the track, and finished 28th in NEXTEL Cup points. Gilliland drove part-time in the Busch Series for Team Rensi Motorsports with a sponsorship from FreeCreditReport.com in 2007, splitting the driving duties at Rensi with rookie Richard Johns. His best finish was a tenth at Daytona. In 2008, FreeCreditReport became his Cup sponsor and he had two top-ten finishes.

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 No. 96 team of Bobby Labonte. After missing the Daytona 500, he was hired by TRG Motorsports for the rest of the 2009 season, with sponsorship from Capital Window and American Monster.

On September 18, 2009, Gilliland's future was thrown into question following TRG's announcement that Labonte would drive the No. 71 Chevrolet for seven of the final twelve races of the season while Erik Darnell drove the No. 96 Ford. Gilliland raced five additional times for TRG that season, also driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports. He drove for the Wood Brothers (filling in for Bill Elliott) at Atlanta and for Gibbs at Lowe's, Texas, and the season finale at Homestead. At the Auto Club Speedway in October, Gilliland relieved a sick Kyle Busch after parking his normal ride. He raced in Phoenix for Phoenix Racing. At the end of the 2009 season, he left TRG Motorsports and joined Front Row Motorsports.

In 2010, Gilliland drove the majority of the season with Front Row Motorsports in a third car, with his old number, 38, and got new numbers 34, and 37. He attempted the Daytona 500 for BAM Racing and failed to qualify. His best finish came at Martinsville and Sonoma, a 19th at both tracks.

He returned to Front Row Motorsports in 2011, to the Taco Bell car. He finished third in the 2011 Daytona 500, Front Row's best finish to that point, and finished in the top-10 later that year at Talladega. For 2012, he moved to the team's No. 38 car. Gilliland and his team received a multi-race sponsorship from Modspace for the 2012 racing season.

In 2013, at the spring Talladega race, Gilliland pushed FRM teammate David Ragan to victory in a green-white-checkered finish that saw Gilliland notch a career-best finish of second, giving FRM a one-two finish in the race.

Gilliland won the pole for the 2014 Coke Zero 400, with a lap speed of 199.322 miles per hour (320.778 km/h) his first pole since 2007, after qualifying ended early due to rain. It was the first pole for the Front Row Motorsports team.

Gilliland finished 11th at the season opener at Daytona in 2015.

Gilliland was replaced by Landon Cassill in 2016, but returned to FRM for the Daytona 500 in the No. 35. However, he failed to qualify for the race.Though the 500 was only supposed to be a one race deal, Gilliland and Front Row announced plans to run at Talladega in April. Gilliland qualified the race beating Josh Wise, and finished 17th when he was 3rd two to go.

Personal life

Gilliland was a high school golf teammate of Tiger Woods at Western High School in Anaheim.

He is married to wife Michelle and the couple have two children, Todd and Taylor.

His son Todd has a racing career and on April 26, 2015, became the youngest winner in the history of ARCA at age 15 and 2 days with a win at Salem Speedway. Todd followed it up with a win at the K&N Pro West Series race at Phoenix International Raceway, making three generations of the Gilliland family to have won in the series.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * - Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Pts	Ref
2006	CJM Racing	72	Dodge	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN															42nd	1178
	Robert Yates Racing	38	Ford																							MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM
2007				DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	28th	2924
2008	Yates Racing			DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	27th	3064
2009	TRG Motorsports	71	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC		MCH	BRI				DOV		CAL		MAR	TAL				37th	1928
		70																							GLN
	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford																									ATL
	Robby Gordon Motorsports	7	Toyota																										RCH	NHA
		04																														KAN
	Joe Gibbs Racing	02	Toyota																															CLT			TEX		HOM
	Phoenix Racing	09	Chevy																																			PHO
2010	BAM Racing	49	Toyota	DAY																																				32nd	2445
	Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford		CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI						DAR	DOV				SON				IND		GLN		BRI				DOV		CAL	CLT			TEX
		37							MAR	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH			CLT	POC	MCH		NHA	DAY	CHI		POC		MCH		ATL	RCH	NHA		KAN			MAR	TAL		PHO	HOM
2011		34		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	KAN	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	30th	572
2012		38		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	TAL	CLT	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	30th	605
2013				DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	26th	648
2014				DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	DAR	RCH	TAL	KAN	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	30th	554
2015				DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	KAN	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	CLT	KAN	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	32nd	533
2016		35		DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	KAN	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	BRI	MCH	DAR	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	CLT	KAN	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	-*	-*

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2007	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	1	8
2008	Yates Racing		32	28
2010	BAM Racing	Toyota	DNQ
2011	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	39	3
2012			33	23
2013			25	38
2014			17	36
2015			26	11
2016			DNQ

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts	Ref
2005	Golembeski Racing	54	Chevy	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX			127th	68
	Clay Andrews Racing	03	Chevy																																		PHO	HOM
2006		84		DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	MAR	GTY														56th	733
	Robert Yates Racing	90	Ford																							IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM
2007	Team Rensi Motorsports	25	Ford	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM	39th	1597
2008	Richardson-Haas Motorsports	14	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	NSH	TEX	PHO	MXC	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	CGV	GLN												95th	191
	Baker Curb Racing	27	Ford																									MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM
2009	Team 42 Racing	42	Dodge	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	TEX	NSH	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV	ATL	RCH	DOV								63rd	672
	Phoenix Racing	1	Chevy																													KAN	CAL	CLT	MEM	TEX	PHO	HOM
2010	D'Hondt Humphrey Motorsports	91	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	BRI	NSH	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	NSH	KEN	ROA	NHA	DAY	CHI	GTY	IRP	IOW	GLN	MCH	BRI	CGV			DOV	KAN	CAL	CLT	GTY	TEX	PHO	HOM	48th	800
	Team 42 Racing	42	Dodge																										ATL	RCH

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2003	Judith Ann Midgley	09	Chevy	DAY	DAR	MMR	MAR	CLT	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	GTW	MCH	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	CAL	LVS	SBO	TEX	MAR	PHO	HOM	NA	-
2005	Billy Ballew Motorsports	15	Chevy	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	GTY	MFD	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	LVS	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	79th	97
2009	TRG Motorsports	7	Chevy	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	CHI	IOW	GTW	NHA	LVS	MAR	TAL	TEX	PHO		65th	208
	ThorSport Racing	98	Chevy																									HOM
2015	RBR Enterprises	92	Ford	DAY	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	GTW	IOW	KEN	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	CHI	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM			92nd	01

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

[ Source: Wikipedia ]