Rookie Gilliland Achieves His Goal

A 32nd-place finish wouldn’t normally spell success on the Nextel Cup circuit, but for rookie driver David Gilliland of Riverside, it represented a major achievement.

Sunday’s race at Infineon Raceway was his first on the major league circuit after years of driving in NASCAR’s lower-level series in the West. It also occurred only one week after Gilliland, 30, won a race in the sport’s second-tier Busch Series in only his seventh try.

“My goal was to finish the race, with the car in one piece -- to make it home,” he said Sunday after climbing out of his CJM Racing Dodge. “And we made that goal.”

Gilliland said he wasn’t nervous about driving with NASCAR’s elite.

“It’s just a race and I’ve been racing all my life,” he said.

But he added, “I feel like I’m accepted now. I feel like I belong here. It’s been a life-changing experience for sure.”

Gilliland said that he hoped to qualify for a Cup race again this year. Asked what he’d need to finish higher, he replied, “A new car.”

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Boris Said of Carlsbad, who is running a limited Cup schedule this year, starting with Sunday’s 110-lap race, finished ninth after his Ford was in the top 10 for most of the day.

“For being in business seven weeks, we should be happy with a ninth-place finish, but we had a top-three car today,” he said, referring to his new No Fear Racing team, which he co-owns. “But my goal was kind of to be in the top five.”

Said, 43, spent several laps battling defending race winner Tony Stewart, and they touched more than once.

“He was faster than me, and I let him by,” Said recalled. “Then toward the end, he runs me off the road. I’ll call him Monday morning and we’ll be fine. I had a great time. I just wish I could have finished fifth at least.”

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It was a tough day for some other California drivers.

Veteran Scott Pruett of Auburn, who was hired by Chip Ganassi and Felix Sabates to drive their Dodge in Sunday’s race, finished 30th in the 43-car field.

P.J. Jones of Torrance, son of 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, finished 36th in a Chevrolet.

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Brian Vickers agreed to drive next year for Team Red Bull, one of the new teams that will be racing Toyota Camrys in the Nextel Cup series starting in 2007.

Vickers earlier this month asked to be released from his contract with Hendrick Motorsports, where he has been since 2003.