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”

Post from: EveryJoe

Brendan Gaughan Nationwide Series Rookie

A caution flag with six laps remaining bunched the field up for a final restart. Darnell led the field when the green waived with just three to go, with Scott Speed and Benson following behind in 2nd and 3rd. After an exciting side-by-side battle, Benson was able to make the pass on Speed to take over second, and then began working on Darnell. The two battled side-by-side all the way to the finish line, and it was eventually determined that Darnell edged him by mere inches.

Scott Speed went onto finish 3rd, followed by Todd Bodine and Brendan Gaughan to complete the top-five. Kyle Busch – again pulling triple duty this weekend – finished in 7th, and Mike Skinner finished 8th. The Kevin Harvick Inc. duo had a rough weekend. Jack Sprague finished 8 laps down in 30th place, and Ron Hornaday spun out on the final lap, relegating him to 23rd. Hornaday’s disappointing finish dropped him out of the points lead all the way down to third, with Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine each picking up two spots to move into 1st and 2nd.

Check here for the Cool City Customs 200 complete results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

Post from: EveryJoe

Darnell Takes the Photo Finish

Starr went onto finish second, followed by Bodine in third. Fourth place went to Terry Cook, and Mike Skinner completed the top-five. Skinner had an earlier incident with Ron Hornaday, who came into the race with the points lead. As the two battled for the race lead with Johnny Benson back on lap 49, the they made contact, and Hornaday ended up in the wall with a wrecked truck. He went onto finish 35th, and dropped four spots in the standings. Todd Bodine’s third place run bumped him up two spots into the points lead.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Truck Series Produces Another First-Time Winner

Image details: North Carolina Education Lottery 200 served by picapp.com

It took awhile – 178 races to be exact – but, Matt Crafton has finally won his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race by holding off Chad McCumbee in a green-white-checkered shootout Friday night in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch appeared as though he was headed for another victory, leading 86 of the 136 laps, but he was involved in an accident with Ron Hornaday back on lap 104 that sent both trucks spinning into the Turn 3 wall. Busch suffered significant damage to the right side of his truck, essentially knocking him out of contention for the win.

Erik Darnell was leading the race with just 7 laps to go, spun his tires on a restart and gave up several positions. As this was happening, Johnny Benson passed Darnell for the lead, but was black flagged by NASCAR for jumping the restart and was ordered to make a pass through penalty in the pits. The series of events handed the lead over to Crafton, with Todd Bodine and Hornaday battling it out for second place just behind him.

With just three more trips around the 1.5 mile track left to go, Bodine spun Hornaday heading into Turn 1, and NASCAR froze the field under caution for the final time of the evening, sending the race into overtime. From there, Crafton held off Chad McCumbee, who made a run down the backstretch during the final lap in an effort to catch the race leader, but all for naught. Crafton crossed the finish line and secured his first official set of NASCAR checkered flags.

Brendan Gaughan finished third, followed by Erik Darnell and Rick Crawford to complete the top-five. Kyle Busch was able to get enough out of his car after the earlier accident to hang onto an 8th place finish. Bodine was still able to finish up in 12th, and Hornaday was relegated to a 23rd place finish.

Following the race, Crafton said, “Finally, we can shut them up. Now they can say, ‘When’s the second one coming?’  Track position was everything. I have a really good group of guys. We’ve been together for two years now. We’re a small group of guys, but we’re going to win more races. I can promise you that.”

Despite Bodine’s claims that his tangle with Ron Hornaday was unintentional, an irate Hornaday stated, “There’s no excuse for that. He flat tried to kill me,” Hornaday said. “You don’t do that on the straightaway. We were pretty good friends, but I don’t know now.”

Hornaday’s lead in the points standings has now been reduced to a mere 5 points over Rick Crawford, and Todd Bodine now trails by only 38. The win by Crafton has placed him 4th in points, and the top-five run by Erik Darnell puts him into the top-ten, as he moves up four spots to ninth.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Crafton Gets First Truck Series Win

Setzer’s no. 10 Dodge was the class of the field for the majority of the day, but had a steady pack of challengers not far behind him late in the race. Brendan Gaughan appeared to have a truck capable of competing for the checkers, but had to pit alone for fuel under caution with about 25 laps remaining. The stop sent him to the back of the pack and out of contention, though he was able to rebound to an 11th place finish. With only four laps to go, Mike Skinner ran out of gas in turn 2 while running in third place, causing a charging Kyle Busch to get into him and bring out the 14th caution of the day. Skinner was able to get back on the track, but now found himself 2 laps down.

The field lined up for the final restart of the day with Setzer still leading the way, followed by Johnny Benson and Kyle Busch. Setzer pulled away from the field and had the race well-in-hand, but on the final turn of the last lap Busch tried to get under Benson for 2nd place, and incidentally spun them both out, giving them finishes of 25th and 26th, thus ruining both their days.

After starting the race in 35th, Chrissy Wallace finished 17th for Germain Racing in her official NASCAR debut.  Ron Hornaday finished the day off in 8th, moving him into third in points. Kevin Harvick Inc. continued to experience their woes with the other driver, however, as Jack Sprague finished up in 24th after his involvement in an accident between he and Shelby Howard with about 30 to go. Cup Series regulars Denny Hamlin and Ken Schrader both made their first truck series starts of the season. Hamlin finished 21st, while Schrader finished 4th.

Complete Results (from nascar.com):

Truck Series Standings (from nascar.com):

Post from: EveryJoe

Bobby Hamilton Racing Back to Victory Lane