DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion – HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER THE FIRST PRACTICE? “I feel like our AAA Ford is something we can certainly work with. It’s not exactly what we’re looking for just yet, but we’ve got another practice here and we’re still trying to get a good baseline to where our car is comfortable and then find something to work with. We’ve tried a couple of different setups and we feel like we know what direction we need to go in now, but I think this car is still gonna be a handful at this track with the tires – at least our AAA Ford because even if it’s fast, it’s still a handful.”
WHAT WOULD A WIN MEAN HERE FOR YOU? “Winning here at Atlanta would be equivalent to winning at a Daytona or an Indy, almost for me. It’s something that we always thought that Atlanta was the number one NASCAR track because it was the closest track, so we put a lot of pressure on ourselves every week, but there’s always extra excitement coming to a hometown track where you have a lot of friends and family. We’ve been coming here for years, like other drivers and guys have at their respective hometown track, so it’s always fun to be here and it would be a lot of fun to win here.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THIS TRACK? “I think the track is forgiving because it’s wide and you can move around. There’s not one particular spot on the track where you have to be in order to be fast, so if you have a car that can move around and you’re willing to take risks on different parts of the race track, you’ll have a shot to win. All we can ask for is just to be in contention and have a shot. This race is no different than any other in terms of trying to find Victory Lane, we’ve just got to put ourselves in a good position throughout the race and then on that last run when we get to the last few laps just give it all we have and hopefully we’re up toward the front and we can make something happen.”
David Gilliland, driver of the No. 38 Aflac Cancer Center Ford Fusion, visited the Aflac Children’s Cancer Center on Thursday, along with fellow Ford driver Carl Edwards. Gilliland spoke about that experience after Saturday’s first practice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
DAVID GILLILAND – No. 38 Aflac Cancer Center Ford Fusion – AS A FATHER YOURSELF, WHAT DID THAT VISIT ON THURSDAY MEAN TO YOU? “It was an awesome day, a day I’ll never forget for sure. We’re already planning on going back and what Aflac does for the cancer center is incredible. To go and meet all the kids there made it a very inspirational day for me. Having kids myself and seeing how strong these kids are, along with their parents, was great. They’re real fighters and it made my day because everyone was so excited to see us.”
WAS THERE ONE CHILD OR STORY THAT REALLY TOUCHED YOU? “There was a boy whose cancer was in remission for a couple of years after going through chemotherapy and all the treatments. Unfortunately, he had just checked back into the hospital because it had come back and he was going to have to go through chemo and all that stuff again. His attitude is what amazed me because he was like, ‘The chemo wasn’t that bad. We’re gonna beat it again.’ To have such a great attitude knowing what you’ve been through and having to go through all of it again, really hit home for me.”
SO WHEN YOU COME TO THE TRACK AFTER A VISIT LIKE THAT DOES THE STUFF IN HERE PALE IN COMPARISON? “Yeah, to a point. We’re real proud to have the Aflac Children’s Cancer Center on the car and the car looks great. Our suit looks good as does the helmet, and I can’t think of anything else I’d like to have on the car.”
NOW YOU JUST HAVE TO GET IT RUNNING A BIT FASTER? “Yeah, for sure. We’re working on it. I’m just working on getting it driving better. When the sun comes out and heats up the track it becomes more and more challenging. Everybody is kind of fighting the same thing and, hopefully, we can just get running a little bit faster.”
