Gaughan captures another Winston West title

Monday, Nov. 12, 2001 | 10:48 a.m.

Still basking in the afterglow of his second straight NASCAR Winston West championship, Brendan Gaughan said defending the title was every bit as sweet as winning the first one.

Gaughan led 171 of 250 laps and cruised to his sixth win of the season in Saturday night's Jani King 250 at Irwindale Speedway in California. The win clinched the 2001 Winston West title for the 26-year-old native Las Vegan.

"Last year was storybook," Gaughan said. "We led the whole season and had the pressure of them trying to catch us all season -- but that's a different type of pressure.

"This year, we had to come from behind and catch them. We caught them, then had a tight race to the last race. That's a whole different pressure than last year and it gave the team a whole different (motivation)."

Gaughan was 15th in points after three races and didn't take over the lead until his second of three wins at Irwindale in July. Gaughan won three of the final four races of the season and beat runner-up Mark Reed by 60 points.

Gaughan said the key to his success this season was the cars provided to him by his Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team.

"I told our guys (Saturday) night that cars don't do that unless they're built with heart," Gaughan said. "Nothing performs like that if they're just built by somebody; it takes true feeling for what you're doing and who you're doing it for to make a car handle like that."

The championship will serve as a confidence booster for Gaughan and his team, who are moving up to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on a full-time basis next season.

"We've been feeling pretty good about next year to begin with, but to be able to finish out the season in that style really makes a difference," Gaughan said.

"Now we've just got to get a truck race at Irwindale; I've been begging them to get a truck race."