DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 M&M’s Ford Fusion (Finished 2nd) – “It’s awesome. I’m really proud to bring the M&M’s Ford Fusion home to a second-place finish. We needed this. Like I said, it’s all about momentum and getting this thing started. I can’t thank Todd Parrott and all the guys enough. We had a real good race car at first and then I got into someone and knocked the right-front fender in and, boy, that changed everything. The boys came in and fixed it and after that last pit stop they said it was go time and we were able to go. Man, it’s a dream come true. My first race here at Daytona. It’s something I’ve dreamed of doing my whole life and to come out here and bring home a second-place finish for all the folks at M&M’s and Robert Yates Racing, this is just a tribute to all the hard work they did over the winter.”

CAN YOU PUT THIS INTO WORDS? “No, it’s just a lot of excitement. I’m just very proud to bring home the M&M’s Ford Fusion with a great finish. The main thing is to try and get this thing started off with a little momentum and I really, really feel like we have a great chance coming in here. Todd Parrott and all the guys in the shop worked their tails off all winter. I think the two tests and coming out like this shows how very hard they’ve worked. Robert Yates Racing is back and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

CAN YOU SUM THIS UP? “I’ve always dreamed about racing here at Daytona and to be able to come and do it – my first race ever and bring home a second-place finish is a dream come true. Like I said, I’m just real proud of all the guys at the shop and real proud of myself to be able to bring home the M&M’s Ford Fusion to a good finish. I’m just proud to be part of this organization and Robert Yates Racing. When I came here in the middle of the year last year people were kind of doubting the team and I think everybody is gonna be surprised this year. I think everybody has worked really hard and with Mars stepping up with Snickers and sponsoring our team car, the teams are working closer than ever. I’m just really proud of all the guys and it’s a pleasure to be a part of it.”

WHAT CAN HELP YOU FOR NEXT WEEK? “This was my first race here and I learned so much about where to be and where not to be and how hard to go at the beginning and what happens at the end of a run. That experience that I just got you can’t buy. I’m very, very thankful that we were able to get the pole at Talladega. Todd Parrott, this was all part of his plan. He’s a champion and I’m just proud to be a part of it.”

COULD YOU HAVE MADE ANY KIND OF MOVE ON TONY AT THE END? “With me being a rookie, it’s kind of hard to get people to work with me. Throughout the night I tried different moves and kind of got left out to dry. Unless the opportunity came and it was just a perfect opportunity, I was gonna ride and bring home a good, solid finish.”

GREG BIFFLE – No. 16 Ameriquest Ford Fusion (Finished 13th) – YOU SAID THE 38 WAS GOING TO WIN AND HE ALMOST DID. “Yeah, he could just drive anywhere he wanted by himself. The car handles really, really good. It’s no secret that those Yates guys build really, really good speedway cars and are really fast all the time. He literally could drive anywhere he felt like it. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I was struggling to keep up, but he’d peel off and run the bottom, stay in the middle coming off the corner. He could do all kinds of stuff. It’s obvious that he had a fast car and could drive anywhere. Our 500 car is a little bit better than that right there, so I think that will be good.” HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT? “That car wasn’t that fast to start with, but we had three cars. We took the best one for the 500 and the second-best one for a spare and Talladega, and our third-best one we had to use for the shootout. That’s all we had. I think we learned a little bit there that’s gonna help us for the 150s and hopefully on to the 500.”

KEN SCHRADER – No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford Fusion (Finished 11th) – “We started out and weren’t bad and then we over-adjusted and got it way too loose, but 31 hit us and knocked us up a lane. That got us messed up and then by the time we got back in the lane we were at the back. But then we kept running and was coming back when they had the yellow. On the restart is where we need more speed. Jimmie got underneath us and we went to the back and finished 11th.”

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FOR NEXT WEEK? “I feel good because we made the car go both ways – tight to loose. I’m really happy with the way the car adjusted up and it’s a great backup car to be sitting in the trailer.”

BORIS SAID – No. 60 Sobe No Fear Ford Fusion (Finished 12th) – “It was a blast. We knew that car wasn’t gonna handle like our other two cars. That’s a pretty old car and it ran great for 10 laps and then it just got so tight you couldn’t drive it. I was happy to see that last restart with 14 to go because we were kind of racy and we got inside the top 10, but then it went past the 10 laps and we got tight again, but it was good practice for the twin 150s. The Ford Fusion engine was great, so I’m looking forward to that tomorrow. Hopefully that will get us into the show on time.”

THE EXPERIENCE WAS GOOD. “Yeah because we got to work on some race adjustments just to see what they did. I’m kind of baffled on how many adjustments we made, it didn’t really make any difference so I hope our race car is more responsive. It’ll be different in the daylight too in the 150s. It’ll probably get tighter sooner, so at least we know now what to expect for that.”

DAVID GILLILAND PRESS CONFERENCE

HOW DID IT FEEL? “It felt really good. Our main deal going into tonight was just to get some experience and try to earn some respect running with these guys and just get it to where they’ll work with us more on next Sunday. I feel like we accomplished that. I feel like we worked with some people really well and made some friends out there. Bringing home a good finish wasn’t bad either and I’m real proud of all our guys and our M&M’s Ford Fusion. We unloaded yesterday and it was very good in practice and, like I said, I just couldn’t be more proud.”

DENNY HAMLIN USED A WIN LAST YEAR AS A SPRINGBOARD TO A GREAT SEASON. CAN YOU DO THE SAME? “I’m hoping to. This sport is a lot about momentum. Hopefully we can come out of this whole week long journey down here and build some momentum and what no better way to start than to bring home a second-place finish tonight. That’s the biggest thing, just build some momentum. We had a great test at Vegas and we’re hoping to do it for sure.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE EARNED SOME TRUST WITH THE OTHER DRIVERS? “I’m earning it. Just like Kurt (Busch) said, it’s a process and it’s gonna take time. You just have to try and keep doing everything right and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Early in the run we had a real strong car and a guy got loose and kind of got in my right-front fender a little bit and then I couldn’t run side-by-side with anybody. We had to go to the back and the guys fixed it during the pit stop. That very last pit stop, we were tight until that very last pit stop and Todd Parrott made some adjustments and that thing was a rocket ship. It was really good. I’m just very fortunate with Todd Parrott. He’s had a lot of success here and I’m just the lucky guy to get to drive it.”

DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAD A SHOT TO WIN? “I don’t know. Like I said, I tried to go and make some moves early on and got hung out to dry and went straight to the back. The opportunity was gonna have to be pretty perfect for me to try and do something. Like Kurt said, he was coming up there and gave me a couple of good pushes, but nothing enough to really hang my neck out on the line. The right opportunity wasn’t there. I’m still learning about those opportunities and how to do that. I’m better than I was when I started the race, but I’m still learning.”

DID YOU THINK ABOUT DOING TO TONY WHAT TONY DID TO KYLE? “I thought about it, but I could never get to his back bumper. I gave him a pretty good push when he got down there to Kyle’s bumper, but it’s tough. I’m still learning the aero tendencies of the cars. The car feels like it has a bubble on it. You’ll be able to get up to somebody and right when you think you’re gonna be able to bump-draft him, it really shoots him away, so I’m still learning that judgment and trying to learn that.”

DID RICKY RUDD HELP SPOTTING? “Yeah, Ricky went up there. Ricky Rudd, man, I can’t say enough about him as a teammate. He’s really taken me under his arm. He’s helped me more in the last month than any other driver has in my whole career and I’m just very thankful to have him. But, yeah, he went up there. We’ve also got Earl (Barban), who spotted for Jimmie Johnson last year. As a rookie, all of those little pieces you can put into place to cut that learning curve down as fast as you can, I’m very lucky to have that. But, yeah, Ricky was up there. We had like 14 to go after the pit stop and he said, ‘Your car didn’t start getting tight until after about 15-16 laps, so just go for it.’ Having that sense of confidence in your ear from somebody like Ricky Rudd means a lot.”

IS THIS A SHOCK TO YOU WITH ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED THE LAST YEAR? “Yeah, it is a big shock. Somebody asked me earlier where I was this time last year and I was in the shop. I didn’t even have a chance to watch the Daytona 500. We were working on our Busch cars and trying to build a team from nothing. To be here one year later is crazy. I keep saying it’s a dream come true and I hope I don’t wake up from it. So many things have happened so fast and I’m just trying to keep up, just trying to keep up with them all. I’ve got a great sponsor in M&M’s and Ford and Robert Yates. They took a big chance on me. All I did was win one Busch race and, really, had a golden opportunity here. They took a big chance on me and I’m just doing everything I can to make them proud and try to be in this series for a long time.”