Published: June 24, 2014
Gaughan wins for 1st time
Las Vegas native used to race in Wisconsin
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
ELKHART LAKE — Tension rose when the clouds over Road
America opened up and poured rain on the four-mile, 14-turn road course at
about the halfway point of Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Gardner Denver
200 Fired Up by Johnsonville.
Brendan Gaughan just smiled and laughed.
“I haven’t smelled blood in a long time; that’s something
I’ve been lacking lately — that killer attitude,” he said.
Despite three trips off the racing surface and hard contact
with Ryan Reed, Gaughan picked up an emotional victory, holding off a
hard-charging Alex Tagliani in a green-white-checkered finish for his first
career Nationwide Series victory in his 98th start. It was also his first
victory in a NASCAR race since winning a truck race in 2003.
Often flamboyant, talkative and always smiling, even a bit
of a goofball, the 38-year-old Las Vegas native was speechless.
“I’m floored right now,” he said moments after the race.
“I’m just so happy. I’m speechless for a change.”
There were plenty of reasons for that; in some respects, he
may not have deserved to win the race.
“I booted this race twice,” Gaughan said in victory lane.
“Thank you (to the crew) right here. They still believed in me. (Crew chief)
Shane (Wilson), as (angry) as he was at me, he kept making changes, trying to
keep us in a right rhythm. For the adversity we had to go through to still be
here in victory lane, it’s amazing.”
The victory brought some tears to Gaughan’s and Wilson’s
faces. Wilson was Gaughan’s crew chief in 2003 with the truck series.
“It’s very special,” Wilson said.
Tagliani, who started the race on the pole, went on to
finish second. Kevin O’Connell was a career-best third, followed by Chase
Elliott and JJ Yeley to round out the top five.
“We had a shot at the win,” said O’Connell, who made just
his fifth career NASCAR start Saturday in any division.
Gaughan admitted it has been frustrating of late and the
results prove it.
Going into Road America, Gaughan had just two top-10
finishes in 13 starts.
He’s also lacked focus; however, one could forgive him for
it. Gaughan’s grandfather, John “Jackie” Gaughan passed away March 12.
“I feel like I’d been letting my team down,” he said. “It’s
been a very difficult year for me on many levels.”
Gaughan’s grandfather was a well-known hotel and casino
operator in Las Vegas for much of the 1950s and 1960s. When Gaughan wanted to
get into racing, it was Grandpa who helped out. And until his death, Grandpa
was the biggest cheerleader for the Georgetown University graduate, who once
gave thought to playing basketball.
Gaughan wanted to win a race for Grandpa. Where he got
career victory No. 1 just made it all the more special.
Gaughan raced for much of his developmental years in
Wisconsin, racing on the old offroad course inside the Road America facility.
He’s also taught at the Skip Barber Racing school, which also has a facility at
Road America.
Gaughan once called Road America and Wisconsin his second
home.
“This is a special state to me,” Gaughan said. “A lot of my
fans and friends are in Wisconsin.”
Just beyond the halfway point, rain fell over the 640-acre
facility, forcing NASCAR to have the drivers switch from traditional slick
tires to grooved wet tires. When that happened, the race strategy for every crew
chief shifted.
It was no big deal for Gaughan and his team. They’ve already
had to do that a couple of times with Gaughan’s off-road excursions. Gaughan
called his driving at points embarrassing.
It was just the third time in series history a race was run
in wet conditions. The other two instances were in 2008 and 2009, both in
Montreal.
“You’ve just got to capitalize on what you’ve got,” Wilson
said.
As the laps wound down, fuel became an issue, as did a
drying race track as it stopped raining with about 10 laps to go. Wet tires are
softer than slicks, so those tires burn up twice as fast, meaning less grip.
Gaughan was in the 2009 race at Montreal and has other
roadcourse experience in the rain. He drew off those experiences to help him
and his crew make the crucial final call to stay on the wet tires, rather than
go to the slicks, despite the track rapidly drying.
Just before the final restart, more than half of the field
stopped in the pits to change from wets to slicks. Gaughan didn’t do that. He
had a gut feeling.
“You’ve got to almost play it by ear,” he said.
After the struggles early on, Gaughan was ready to pounce on
the lesser experienced drivers in the rain when the rain started.
“When it started raining, I started to smell blood and I
said, ’I’m coming,’” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment