No. 27 Huggies Ford Fusion Comes Home 31st

David Gilliland

(Fontana, Calif.) September 1, 2008 – Backed by his local fans, David Gilliland climbed behind the wheel of the No. 27 Huggies Ford Fusion at the Auto Club Speedway on Saturday night to take a wild ride around the two mile track.

Qualifying in the 20th position, Gilliland and the Baker Curb team felt they had a car that would be able to hang ten with the competition and bring home a strong finish.

Gilliland, battling the car’s tightness over the track’s bumps and a looseness in the rear, was able to navigate through the field proving the powerfulness of the No. 27 Huggies Ford.

On lap 109, however, the fate of the team changed when the No. 27 made contact with the wall causing damage and a flat right rear tire. The Huggies team worked quickly and efficiently to repair the car, but were unable to gain back the lost laps and brought home a 31st place finish.

“We felt we had a good car tonight,” said Jeff White, crew chief. “However, we ended up with a shortage of tires and this in turn cost us. We worked extra hard on a set of tires during the first practice and we really needed to have used those in the race. The racer in me just came out tonight and we tried to push it. We started the race out well and the car tightened to the track like we thought it would. We really just needed the race to go green and have the cautions fall differently. But that’s just racing.”

The No. 27 Huggies Ford Fusion team will be back in action on Friday night at the Richmond International Raceway.