For the third time since joining Robert Yates Racing in August, David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 M&M’s Fusion, was Ford’s highest qualifier for a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race when he qualified ninth for Sunday’s Ford 400. Gilliland, who won the pole at Talladega in October, spoke about his success before practice on Saturday.

DAVID GILLILAND - No. 38 M&M's Fusion - WHAT DOES IT SAY WHEN A TEAM ALWAYS QUALIFIES WELL? "I think it just means that the driver is comfortable in the car and the car is comfortable to drive. For us, Todd [Parrott, crew chief] and the guys, they really have been great in the last couple of weeks. We've been unloading with a great race car, and close. And if you unload close, then you can fine-tune to get it better. When I first came here, the cars weren't exactly where they needed to be, and we knew that, but we all went into it with the attitude that don't dwell on what the problem is, let's dwell on finding a solution. And I feel like we've done really good with that. And just coming here more prepared, and my confidence level is up, and, in turn, you can go out and qualify good. That's all part of it."

CAN SUCCESS IN QUALIFYING TRANSFER INTO SUCCESS ON RACE DAY? "Absolutely. Just like qualifying yesterday: Yeah, we qualified ninth out of 56, which is great - I look at the list and look at the teams that we qualified ahead of, and like you said, the highest-qualifying Ford, that means a lot to us. We were really good in race trim and we didn't really work too much on qualifying. We were very conservative on our qualifying package. So, I'm real excited. If you can get the car good in race trim and qualifying decent, like we've been doing, it's just that much better. Qualifying is so important in these races - that's something that I've learned in the last month or so. If you qualify bad, it's hard to catch up from that because you don't get a good pit stall and at the start of the race, they usually go green and if you get a lap down it's so hard to get your lap back. There's just so many little things, so that if you can start off the weekend with a good qualifying effort, put yourself in a better position to start the race, 90 percent of the time the result will be better."

YOU HAVEN'T RACED HERE, BUT NOW YOU'VE PRACTICED AND QUALIFIED. YOUR THOUGHT'S ON SUNDAY'S RACE? "I'm real excited. I really like the track a lot - it reminds me of a short track, Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway, that I grew up racing on. It's kind of my home track. It's a variable banking track. I really like it. I'm real comfortable, the car is really good and really stable, and I'm looking forward to bringing home a great finish this weekend."

VARIABLE BANKING MEANS MORE RACING GROOVES? "Definitely. I think, for the fans and as a driver, you always want to come to a race track where you can race. Not a lot, but some of the tracks that we go to, you've got to be on the bottom and if you get out of the groove you get passed. But here, it's kind of like Atlanta: you can go and you can run multi-grooves, and really, if you have a good car, you can go to the front. That's something that I'm really excited about. As a driver, this is kind of a driver's track, because if you have a good car you can race."

ROBERT YATES MADE AN ANNOUNCEMENT YESTERDAY THAT YATES RACING WILL REMAIN A TWO-CAR OPERATION. HOW IMPORTANT WAS THAT ANNOUNCEMENT TO YOU? DOES THAT TAKE A LOAD OFF YOUR MIND? "It definitely does. I'm here trying to make my mark in Nextel Cup and I want to be here for a long time, and if we would've gone to a one-car team, who knows what would've happened? But, I know that with two cars next year and a great driver to bounce ideas off of, good teammate, and a good team, I think it can only help. With our practice sessions, as little as we get, and everything else, the information that you get from multi-teams is so important. That's why you see a lot of good teams that are very successful and in the Chase are multi-car teams, and I think it would've been tough to do with a single-car team."