"There at the end, he was definitely impressive,'' said Gordon, a five-time Infineon winner. "He was good on the restarts. He would get in there, and I thought he was going to have something for Kyle there at the end. I think actually if all the (track cleaner) hadn't been on the racetrack, he might have.

"But David really impressed me. I was happy for him.''

Now Gilliland needs to build some momentum as he and Kvapil continue their efforts to make Yates a legitimate contender. Both cars still need sponsorship, and runs such as the one Sunday at Sonoma — Kvapil started 41st and finished 22nd — could help.

"We're in a sponsor search right now for a full-time deal, so hopefully this will help. We're just excited about it,'' Gilliland said. "This should help us build some momentum. We're going to use this; we're going to build this up.

"I'm just really proud, most of all, of Yates Racing and where we've come as a team — Travis and I both — in the six months from where we ended the year last year. Yates Racing is definitely coming back, and I'm proud to be a part of it.''

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