Gilliland started his race 11th in the field of 32. He had already raced at California Speedway in the NASCAR Winston West Series race earlier in the day and, with very little practice time, had to make the adjustment to Irwindale’s layout.
He had slipped to 14th by lap 10, but started moving forward. He was seventh by the 40th circuit and was fifth by lap 60.
In the front of the field Russell White led the first 37 laps, before giving way to Tommy Fry. The top four cars of Fry, Nathan Wulff, Rip Michels and Charles Utts were close together on lap 60 when Wulff and Utts spun in tandem down the back straight.
The spinning drivers started the night in the top two spots in the standings. They resumed racing with Wulff in the 10th spot and Utts one place behind. And that’s when things started getting wild.
On the 73rd lap Wulff got involved in a turn three crash, ending his racing night. The caution flag closed the field, forcing a two-lap sprint to the checkers.
Gilliland was still third when the field took the green for the final time, trailing Fry and Michels. Gilliland got second with one lap remaining and slipped by Fry as they raced out of the final corner of the last lap.
The official margin of victory was a scant 0.107 of a second.
“I knew the only chance I had was on the restart,” the winner said. “I got by (Michels) and I was surprised. Then I got to Tommy and he gave me some extra room.”
Fry, said, “It was either that or wreck.”
The finish: Gilliland, Fry, Brandon Loverock, Brent Reynolds and Rip Michels.
Okay, now for the standings. Utts finished ninth and unofficially leads the division with 210 points. Sean Woodside, who also had a busy day at Fontana before the Irwindale events, finished eighth in the race and improved to second in points with 202. Wulff dropped to third in the standings with 194.
