Brendan Gaughan knows he beat himself out of Truck Series win in Chicago
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”244″]
[/media-credit]Had the suggestion or opportunity arisen for Brendan Gaughan to run a limited schedule the last few years, he would have shrugged it off.
Attempting to win races and contend for the championship was his main focus. Regardless of which team he was driving for or what series he was competing in. Then last December, after Gaughan finished 12th in the Camping World Truck Series points but only had one top five, a deal to run a limited schedule was presented again.
This time Gaughan wisely accepted the offer. Richard Childress Racing was willing to put him behind the wheel of both a truck and Nationwide Series car. Looking to be competitive again and instead of driving for teams who bought equipment from RCR, the best option was just to drive for them.
Saturday night in Chicago that decision nearly paid off. Gaughan dominated the American Ethanol 225 only to come up short on a green-white-checkered finish. He had been leading the restart previous before spinning his tires and handing the win to James Buescher.
Afterwards Gaughan understood how teammate Kevin Harvick and other drivers felt after a bitter defeat. Watching Harvick with a mad and angry look on his face after finishing second, something Gaughan would normally have been ecstatic about. Not Saturday night.
“Tonight Richard Childress, Gere Kennon [crew chief] and all the guys at the RCR shop gave me a South Point Chevrolet that was capable of taking us to Victory Lane,” said Gaughan. “There was no truck out there that was going to beat it, unless we beat ourselves. And I did. I spun my tires on the second to last restart, I gave an opening and that’s what you can’t do.
“I got lucky that we had one more restart and I got to restart in fourth on the outside which is where I wanted to be. Was able to get back to second on the last lap. I’m still just very upset, Richard Childress has given me a great opportunity and second place looks like it would be fantastic but not when you have a truck that good.”
Sitting in the lead on a restart with nine laps to go, Gaughan’s mistake took him from first to fifth. The final caution, on lap 145, set up a green-white-checkered finish but he was only able to grab two more spots. Buescher, who led just six laps, won the race after going two laps down early.
During that time Gaughan led 83 of the events 150 laps. The fastest truck doesn’t always win and Gaughan, who hasn’t won since 2003, had the field covered and looked headed for what would have been an emotional win. The 2012 season is his second chance, an opportunity to get back on top and show that he can compete full-time given the right circumstances.
“The only opportunity to get in equipment this good was to do that,” said Gaughan of his limited schedule. “I had five weeks off, this is after a five week layoff, I haven’t been in a racecar and it’s very odd for me when you spend your whole racing every week and the only layoff you have is the winter before you get to Daytona.”
Gaughan found himself watching the races at home and going to the shop to see someone else’s seat in a car that he drives too. Everything about the decision Gaughan made, even knowing it was the best one, leaves him with an odd feeling from time to time. His performance though, was anything but odd as he reminded everyone he still knows how to dominate races.
“In order to get in this caliber equipment, as great caliber as Richard Childress builds, the only way to do it was to take it part time,” he said. “He’s always said if I can show we can do, he’s going to try to give me an opportunity to go full-time if I can show it.
“Second place may be able to show it, when the trucks that good I still sit here and got to kick myself. Now I remember why you get that sourpuss look on your face when you finish second. I’d be up here in tears for second place the last bunch of years with Bryan Berry and all. Now with these guys it’s like, man, being second place and being that good you just kind of shake your head.”
But he says, “It was a great decision. I’ve run every race in the top five, top 10 except two. I can’t knock that, we’ve just to keep doing that and I’ll keep putting myself in this position and we’ll finish it off.”
Following the NNS at Chicago on Sunday, Gaughan will again sit at home and watch as the series heads to Indianapolis. He’ll be back behind the wheel at Iowa the first week of August, then Montreal two weeks after that. The next time he’s in a truck will be at Bristol on August 22.
HOORAHS AND WAZZUPS: IT WAS ALL ABOUT RISING TO THE OCCASION
[media-credit name=”Dan Sanger” align=”alignright” width=”251″]
[/media-credit]With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series taking their final weekend off of the season, there was a major opportunity for the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series to rise, shine and take over the sport’s center stage at the Chicagoland Speedway last weekend. Both series did exactly that. It just took them until the end of the race to show it to the rest of us. Despite a debilitating illness, Elliott Sadler certainly rose to the occasion in the Nationwide Series and, in the truck series, James Buescher practically rose from the dead to enjoy his shining moment in victory lane. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:
HOORAH to Elliott Sadler for rising above a severe case of the stomach flu in order to win the STP 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Sadler went two days without solid foods and even flew his personal doctor in to help him with the illness.
Throughout much of the afternoon this race had all the characteristics of a genuine snooze festival until the final laps. Sadler was leading the race with Ricky Stenhouse Jr coming on strong in second. Stenhouse had already led a race high 135 laps and he clearly was gaining on Sadler in an effort to take back what he felt was rightfully his. The question remained: did he have enough laps to set up a winning pass?
WAZZUP with Sam Hornish Jr answering that question for Stenhouse? With eight laps remaining in the race, Hornish was in a three way fight for ninth place when he accidentally tapped the rear bumper of Kyle Busch’s Toyota. In turn, Busch collected Brendan Gaughan and they both slammed hard into the wall.
HOORAH to Hornish for immediately coming over his radio to forward apologies to both drivers while taking full responsibility for the accident. Hornish later said he was distracted by what appeared to be loose hood pins on the front of his car and when he looked up again he was into Busch’s bumper.
WAZZUP with what Sadler must have been thinking after all of this happened? With a late race dog fight with Stenhouse already developing, he absolutely didn’t want to see a yellow caution flag.
HOORAH to Justin Allgaier for that surprise assist when the green flag flew to launch the green-white-checker finish. Lined up in third behind the race leader, Allgaier literally pushed Sadler past Stenhouse and that actually turned out to be the winning move.
HOORAH to Sadler,for winning his third race of the season as well as the Nationwide Dash 4 Cash bonus for being the highest finisher of the four eligible drivers in the program.
WAZZUP with the bonus money being higher than the winner’s check? Sadler won $88,468 for beating 42 other drivers in the STP 300. He received $100,000 for beating three other drivers in the Nationwide Dash 4 Cash program. Is it time to consider giving these Nationwide Series teams a pay raise?
HOORAH to the ESPN Network for editing some of Kyle Busch’s radio transmissions. This driver was having a terrible day with handling problems and every pit road adjustment that the team tried just didn’t seem to work. Sensing what they were going to hear from this driver’s radio, ESPN first recorded the comments and then bleeped out the offensive language before playing the comments on live television. It was a far better effort that what we’ve heard in recent weeks when “F” bombs were bursting all over the airwaves followed by embarrassed broadcasters apologizing for them.
HOORAH to Kyle Busch for declining a post race interview. There are times when a driver simply doesn’t need to be in front of a live television camera. After the day that he endured at the Chicagoland Speedway,this was definitely one of those times.
HOORAH for Herman The German’s fourth place finish. Kenny Wallace returned to the Nationwide Series in the Robby Benton owned #09 Toyota. The team is still seeking sponsorship programs to keep the wheels rolling. Wallace drove his guts out to get the team that top five finish and that effort will hopefully help their cause.
HOORAH to James Buescher for collecting his third win last Saturday, at Chicagoland, in the American Ethanol 225 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Buescher out dueled series points leader Timothy Peters in the race’s final moments to get that third win for Turner Motorsports.
Buescher and his team also gets the making chicken salad out of chicken do do HOORAH this week. During the early part of the event they had to change the truck’s carburetor. Buescher returned to the race a full two laps down. However, with some rock solid driving and some help from a lucky dog pass, Buescher was where he needed to be at the end of the race.
HOORAH to the Million Dollar Quartet for an outstanding, acapella, arrangement of “The Star Spangled Banner” during the truck series’ open race ceremonies. WAZZUP with the Million Dollar Quartet having six people singing?
