Elliott Sadler cleaned out his locker Monday at Robert Yates Racing, clearing the way for David Gilliland to take over the #38 M&M’s Ford. Gilliland, 30, will make his second Nextel Cup start, his first for RYR, Sunday in the GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Gilliland’s name has been painted on the #38 M&M’s Ford Fusion, and all signs point to a formal announcement within days. Gilliland will be in the car as early as Tuesday for testing at Kentucky Speedway. Sadler most likely will be released from his contract with RYR this week, and he is expected to take over the #19 Dodge Dealers Dodge at Evernham Motorsports, which became open when Jeremy Mayfield was released last week.(Sporting News/Greg Engle), Todd Parrott is expected to take over #38 crew chief duties at MIS. An announcement was expected on Monday, August 14th, but it didn’t happen.
UPDATE: David Gilliland returned to the site of his nationally-recognized June 18 “Meijer 300 Presented by Oreo” Busch Series victory today when he tested the #38 Robert Yates Racing Nextel Cup Series Ford at Kentucky Speedway. The 30-year-old said he is close to having the chance to try to duplicate that success in the Nextel Cup version of the car if he signs a full-time deal to fill the seat rumored to have been recently vacated by veteran Elliott Sadler. “We’re getting closer. I believe I’m going to finish off the year in the car and I’m real excited,” Gilliland said. “It’s just a great opportunity. After we won the Busch race here, it opened up a ton of doors. (Owners) Robert and Doug (Yates) have been great and everyone at M&M’s is willing to give me an opportunity. Hopefully, we can take full advantage. It definitely happened faster than a lot of people thought it would. We worked hard to get here and feel I deserve to be here.” Gilliland put the #38 through its paces under the watchful eye of new, yet familiar, veteran Crew Chief Todd Parrott. He formerly served as crew chief for the #88 Robert Yates Racing car [and also the #38 with Sadler] and returned to the team this week following a 22-race stint with Petty Enterprises and the #43 car of Bobby Labonte. “Today has been awesome,” Gilliland said. “Todd is a winner and has a lot of experience in the Nextel Cup Series. That’s what we’re going to need. We want to do everything we can to cut our learning curve and get to the front as soon as possible.”(Kentucky Speedway PR)(8-15-2006)
UPDATE 2: no announcement yet from RYR, but with Sadler officially being named to the #19 Dodge on Wednesday, plus Gilliland being added to nascar.com’s entry list, looks like Gilliland will be in the car this weekend at MIS.
AND on Friday morning [August 18th] at Michigan International Speedway “M&MS Chocolate Candies To Announce Future NASCAR Plans”.(8-17-2006)
