Gaughan survives stop in LV

Monday, Oct. 14, 2002 | 9:18 a.m.

A race weekend that started out with so much promise and then suddenly turned disastrous ended with a little bit of satisfaction for Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan.

Gaughan, the leading rookie in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, salvaged the weekend by driving his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge to an eighth-place finish in Sunday's Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Bishop Gorman High product opened the weekend by winning the pole for Saturday night's NASCAR Winston West race and qualified second for the Truck Race. In Saturday's final NCTS practice, however, Gaughan wrecked his primary truck and was forced to start from the back of the pack Sunday with a backup Dodge.

Later Saturday night, Gaughan was leading the Winston West race when his engine let go and he was relegated to a 23rd-place finish.

Despite starting Sunday's Las Vegas 350 from the rear of the 36-truck field, Gaughan had moved into the 10th place before falling off the lead lap midway through the race.

"We got a top ten with a backup truck that was, at the worst, a third-place truck," Gaughan said. "We had the third-quickest truck ... but I didn't want to get in the way (of the leaders)."

Gaughan had an opportunity to get back on the lead lap when the last of two caution flags was displayed with 27 laps remaining, but Gaughan said Travis Kvapil, who was running fourth, wouldn't let him by.

"We wanted our lap back and Mike Bliss and Ted Musgrave both tried really hard to give me my lap back but the 60 truck (Kvapil) didn't want me to get it back, apparently," Gaughan said. "The 60 truck blocked me and wouldn't let me get my lap back.

"I guess (Kvapil) wanted that one spot; he was right, I was faster than him."

Gaughan, who remained 11th in NCTS points, said his showing Sunday underscored what he has been saying all season about the strong trucks of his Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team.

"Our backup truck was basically as good as our primary and that says a lot for the caliber of team Orleans Racing is and it speaks volumes for anybody that wants to come on and sponsor us next year because we can run backup trucks and be just as fast."

Gaughan learned about 10 days ago that NAPA would not return as the team's sponsor for next season. Team owner Michael Gaughan -- Brendan's father -- is busy trying to line up funding for next season.

The elder Gaughan said over the weekend that he would campaign the truck for his son in 2003 even if he were unable to secure a primary sponsor.

Ted Musgrave, who finished ninth Sunday, remained third but slipped from 112 to 149 points off the pace. Race winner David Starr remained 169 points behind Bliss in fourth place.

The Spears, who have fielded a truck in the series since its inception in 1995, finally went to Victory Lane for the first time in 187 races.

In addition to the $43,200 he pocketed for winning the Las Vegas 350, Starr earned a $10,000 bonus for winning the race from the pole.

Cook, who started 10th, developed a problem in his Power Stroke Diesel Ford early in the race and lost more than 20 laps while pitting several times to correct the problem. He finished 27th.

"We burned a hole through a heat shield on a tailpipe, right underneath the seat, and it proceeded to burn the heat shields underneath the seat," Cook said. "We had all kinds of smoke and fumes inside the truck; I couldn't even see where we were going.

"I don't know what to do about this bad luck -- it's rotten. We prepare a great race truck each and every week and to have stuff like that happen is just a freak deal."

He started seventh Sunday and finished fifth in the Team ASE Dodge.