Gill Wins 4th Hooters Pro Cup Title

Wins are all that matter for veteran driver by Paul Warner - Nov.4,2007

Lakeland, Fla.-As Gary St. Amant and Mike Garvey, arguably two of the best short-track racers of all-time, made there way into Victory Lane to congratulate Bobby Gill on his race win and fourth Hooters Pro Cup title, it was evident that Gill has the respect of his competitors.

On Saturday, Nov. 3, Gill showed why he commands such reverence. Needing a 15th-place finish to clinch his fourth title, Gill went door-to-door with Trevor Bayne in the final five laps before inching away to win the Robert H. Brooks Memorial Aaron’s 250 presented by NGA Hooters Pro Golf Tour at USA Int’l Speedway.

One bobble and Gill could have lost the title, but that didn’t matter to him.

"When I was leading, all I was thinking about was winning the race," said Gill, driver of the No. 06s USG Sheetrock Ford. "Trevor got underneath me there and we banged and rubbed, but we were racing clean. In the end, I came out on top."

With laps winding down, Gill, who took the lead on Lap 161, didn’t look like he’d have to fight so hard for his series-high 46th win. But a few late-race cautions allowed Bayne to put the pressure on.

"We were terrible on restarts," said Gill. "It took my car two or three laps to get the push out of it."

When Gill pushed high on the final restart, Bayne stuffed his No. 29s Strutmasters.com/DEI Chevrolet under Gill for the lead. Bayne actually led Laps 247 and 248 while underneath Gill, but the 16-year-old driver came up .292 seconds shy of his third win of the year.

"We were pretty horrible on restarts, but I felt like if I could get under him that I could kind of use him as a hold to turn my car ," said Bayne, who finished second in the race and points to Gill. "We had a clean race there at the end. I guess that’s the guy to lose to. If you’re going to lose to him in the points, you may as well lose to him in the race. I figured Bob would come in here and try to finish in the top 15, but he came down here and won the thing. He made a statement."

Gill’s season-ending win was a statement, but it wasn’t one that he was be willing to make early in the event.

"If you asked me 80 laps into the race if we were going to win the race I would have said, ‘No,’" said Gill. "Our car wasn’t that good during the first run."

Gill, who was forced to start 33rd after losing a transmission during qualifying, moved into the top 20 by Lap 75, but he wasn’t keeping pace with race-leader Matt Carter, who led the first 81 laps after starting from the Awesome Awnings Pole. A smart call by Gill’s team changed that.

When the caution waved at Lap 89, Gill’s team brought him to pit road to top off with fuel.

"We knew we could make it 160 laps on fuel," said Gill. "I didn’t want to come in on the caution [on Lap 75] because we couldn’t make it."

With Gill still deep in the field, Mark McFarland, driver of the No. 81s Chevrolet, took control of the event, building a comfortable lead over Carter and leading 49 laps during the middle stages of the race. After leading the Lucas Oil Halfway Lap to pick up $1,000 and five bonus points, McFarland brought his car to pit road on Lap 130.

While most of the leaders needed fuel and BFGoodrich Tires g-Force radials, Gill only needed tires and cycled past much of the field during the stop.

Once the green waved on Lap 133, Wade Day and Ben Stancill, who both pitted under an earlier caution, swapped the lead before Gill rumbled past Stancill’s No. 9n Stancill Farms Ford on Lap 161 to take the lead.

"I knew after our stop that we had something," said Gill. "After three laps, our car would hug the bottom of the track. Clay [Rogers] kept telling me to save some fuel. I was running about ? throttle after I got the lead, and I was putting the car in third gear under caution."

In the end, Gill had enough fuel and talent to hold off a hard-charging Trevor Bayne to win the race and Hooters Pro Cup National Championship.

"I’m not sure which one was sweeter because this one hasn’t sunk in yet," said Gill. "This one was harder, though. We had the other ones wrapped up before we got to the final race."