Brendan Gaughan Nationwide Series Rookie

The Nationwide Series has traditionally been a sort of stepping stone to its bigger brother, the Sprint Cup Series. A way for younger and less experienced drivers to build confidence and slowly work their way up to the Sprint Cup Series. The average age in the Nationwide Series this year is actually a little higher than it has been in past years, but there’s a good reason for this. This year there’s a Nationwide Series rookie on the track by the name of Brendan Gaughan, and at 34, he’s only a rookie in the Nationwide Series.

Brendan Gaughan a Nationwide Series rookie

This fact has been a sort of joke all year on the Nationwide Series circuit because Gaughan has completed a full season in the Cup Series and has over 160 starts driving in the Truck Series, so he can hardly be considered a rookie. His experience has shown dividends this year as well, as he currently stands eighth in the standings heading into Saturday’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Illinois.

Gaughan finished fourth at Kentucky Speedway and second at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and has another three top ten finishes in eighteen Nationwide Series races. Crew Chief Bryan Berry returned last week, after a four race suspension, and Gaughan hopes the work he did on the car while he was away, will improve his performance at Gateway. In addition, RWR has recently formed a technical partnership with Kevin Harvick Inc. Kevin has worked with the best in the business and no matter who he has put behind the wheel of his cars they do well, so this partnership is only a win-win situation for RWR.

Gaughan currently stands second in the Nationwide Series rookie standings for 2009, but something tells me this is the last award he actually wants. He’ll certainly take victories and the awards and acclaim that go with them, but he would probably rather forget the age factor, and who could blame him.

It’s good to see that he has found a home that seems to suit him and one where he is apparently happy and driving good. It will be fun to watch him and the good old boys throw down the gauntlet this Saturday in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. You can expect Kyle Busch to be contending as usual, you can never count out a racer like Kevin Harvick who has won two times in a Nationwide Series race at Gateway, and watch out for Brad Keselowski in the No. 88 car.

“Image: Zuma Press”