Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR
The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season marked the sixth year of competition in the series for California driver, David Gilliland and his second year with the underfunded Front Row Motorsports team. Even though the FRM organization ran a shoe-string budget in 2011, Gilliland and the team competed in all 36 events on the year and did not start and park in a single event.
Gilliland started off the 2011 season with an impressive third place finish in the Daytona 500. The over $800,000 he and the team won likely gave the team a huge boost early on. The team's second and final top 10 of the year came at Talladega in the Aaron's 499 with a ninth place effort. The restrictor plate events proved to be Gilliland's strong suit as he was a top 10 competitor in all four races this season. It should be noted that Gilliland had a fantastic run at Infineon Raceway with a 12th place effort.
While Gilliland and his team scored their best success early on in the year, they also had their worst races as well. Gilliland was caught up in several incidents in the first few events in 2011 which in turn made him the most penalized driver for much of the year. Gilliland earned at least one penalty in seven of the first 10 races. Things got better though as the year progressed and in the final 26 events, Gilliland was penalized in only six more races. Most of Gilliland's penalties (15) came in the form of pitting to early to attend to damage on his car while he and his crew were penalized eight times total all year long, four by the driver and four by the pit crew.
2011 Statistics For David Gilliland
30th in Sprint Cup standings
36 starts
1 top 5
2 top 10s
Best Finish: 3rd in the Daytona 500
7 laps led
2011 Penalty Report For David Gilliland
Race 1 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Front air wrench must be carried back to pit wall side of car/truck, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 2 - Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area, Tail End of Longest Line; Pitting before pit road is open, Tail End of the field
Race 4 - Pitting out of order, Tail of Field
Race 5 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 6 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field; Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
Race 7 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 10 - Pitting before pit road is open, Tail of Field
Race 12 - Speed-Exiting pits, Tail of Field; Pitting before pit road is open, Garage
Race 13 - Pre-Race to the rear, tail end transmission change; Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area, tail end
Race 20 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end
Race 23 - Outside half of the pit box tire violation/Team member not in contact with the outside tires, Tail of Field
Race 26 - Pitting before pit road is open, tail end; Speed-Entering pits, tail end
Race 27 - Speed-Entering pits, Was at the end of race & 1 lap taken away
Race 33 - Pitting before pit road is open, Garage