At one point during Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, it appeared like David Gilliland might beat Goliath at Martinsville Speedway the same way his son, Todd, did at Southern National Motorsports Park on Saturday night.

Gilliland was running as high up as second during the race and looked like he might be in position to score his first ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win.  However, fate would play its hand and Gilliland ended up fading in the late stages of the race.  By the time the checkered flag waved, Gilliland was relegated to a 25th place finish.

“We were running a lot better than that but got a bad set of tires and it got us behind and we lost a lap,” Gilliland said after the race.  “Man, disappointing day but we had a fast racecar and just came up a little bit short when it counted … We drove up to 13th from 25th or something under green.  Felt really good about it.  The tires were so different from set to set that we got behind and got a lap down right at the end and never got a chance to make it up.”

Gilliland’s roller coaster day comes the day after his 14-year-old son Todd Gilliland picked up his first career Late Model Stock Car victory in the inaugural race for the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Late Model Stock Tour.  The younger Gilliland upset Deac McCaskill, who had led 148 laps, with a late race bump-and-run.  The elder Gilliland said his son’s victory motivated him.

“Anything like that is always really motivating,” Gilliland said.  “Todd did a great job and I’m really proud of him.  He did a great job and we’re proud of him and hopefully he can keep up the great work.”

While David Gilliland still competes in NASCAR, his son appears packaged to one day race in NASCAR himself.  Will father and son race each other in NASCAR one day?  Gilliland thinks it would be really cool.

“That would be neat,” Gilliland said.  “It would be special to be able to do that.  We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.  He’s got the ability to race here one day.  Whether I’m still racing by them, who knows, but we’ll have to see.”

For the Gilliland family, the final weekend in March provided a bittersweet symphony. For Todd Gilliland, the weekend brought his first career Late Model Stock Car victory.  For David Gilliland, however, it was a much needed strong performance that ended in disappointment.  Despite the disappointment, he knows, like any father, that his son’s win is something to be very proud of.