David Gilliland, a relative unknown and unproven NASCAR driver, will climb into a car fielded by a part-time team without a sponsor and attempt to compete in a race this weekend dominated by teams with far bigger budgets and drivers with much glossier resumes.

And he could have a chance to win if he makes the field.

Sound improbable, or even ridiculous? Of course it does.

Yet facing the very same scenario last weekend in the Busch Series race at Kentucky Speedway, Gilliland walked away the winner and ran right straight into the NASCAR spotlight.

“It’s been great. I’ve been enjoying every single minute since our win Saturday night,” said Gilliland, a 30-year-old native of Riverside, Calif.

“We didn’t make the Charlotte race so we took one step back to try to take three forward and really concentrated on preparation, fine-tuning and detail. And obviously it paid off.”

Gilliland, driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for the part-time and unsponsored Busch team, Clay Andrews Racing, passed Nextel Cup Series rookie J.J. Yeley with 11 laps remaining to earn his first series victory.

David Gilliland celebrates his victory in the Busch Series Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

He became the first non-Cup series regular to win a Busch race since Clint Bowyer won at Memphis last October – a span of 18 races.

This weekend, Gilliland will try his luck in the Cup series, attempting to qualify for Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, a 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course in Sonoma, Calif.

He’s driving a car for CJM Racing, which hasn’t made a race yet this season. The odds are against him, but that’s nothing new.

“We’re mainly doing this to get some road course experience in a heavy car, like a Cup car. I’ve won at Infineon in a Southwest Tour car two years ago,” Gilliland said.

“We’re mainly going to run there to gain experience for next year if we put a deal together to run full-time to help cut that learning curve down a little bit.

“It’s kind of a new team. It’s almost the same type of deal as our deal now. They are just getting going. I feel like they have a good motor and good enough car to go there and make the race.”

How about a victory? Can a Cup win this weekend be any more or less improbable than his appearance in Victory Lane at Kentucky?

“I think it would be tough. The pit crew and stuff they have is really not up to par 100 percent. To run with those Cup guys you really, really have to have all that,” he said.

“We’re going to do our best. It will at least be great to be out there this weekend around those guys because that is definitely where I would like to end up.”

While Gilliland’s win certainly has showered attention on him as a driver, he is quick to credit his team for the opportunity it provided him.

Team owner Clay Andrews decided to fund the Busch team himself while searching for a sponsor, not the typical approach to NASCAR racing nor a profitable one.

“Clay’s philosophy was to get out there, run good, finish good and then go to sponsors and say, ‘This is what we can do,’ not ‘This is what we think we can do.’

“Well, we definitely have a lot to show for our team now.”

Gilliland and his team hope to run 10 to 12 more Busch races this season. In the meantime, they will milk Saturday’s win for everything they can.

“I’m enjoying every minute of it, I’ll tell you,” Gilliland said. “It’s a dream come true for us and our team. Hopefully we can continue to have good success.”