Penske staying mum on Gaughan’s future

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 9:31 a.m.

Given the fact that most of the details of Roger Penske's plan to add a third NASCAR Nextel Cup team next season are plastered all over the Internet, the venerable auto racing team owner apparently is in no hurry to make a formal announcement.

Las Vegas' Brendan Gaughan, rumored to be heading to Penske's new team as the driver, is on vacation and not responding to questions about his future with Penske.

Wally McCarty, director of marketing for Penske Racing South, said the team would announce its 2004 team plans "by the end of the year" and would neither confirm nor deny published reports that have Gaughan running the 2004 Nextel Cup season in a third Penske car.

ThatsRacin.com, a popular Internet website that features auto racing news and rumors, reported earlier this month that Penske would buy into the No. 77 Jasper Motorsports team, which this season fielded Fords for driver Dave Blaney, and make the switch to Dodge for the 2004 season. Gaughan, the website reported, would replace Blaney as driver for the Kodak-sponsored Penske-Jasper Motorsports team.

Penske said last month in a televised interview that he had been approached by Kodak about sponsoring a third car next season and admitted that hiring Gaughan was " a possibility."

Shane Wilson, who has been Gaughan's crew chief for the past four seasons in the NASCAR Winston West Series and Craftsman Truck Series, already has left Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing and started working with the new Penske-Jasper team.

Wilson helped guide Gaughan to Winston West championships in 2000 and 2001, Rookie of the Year honors in the Truck Series in 2002 and six victories and a fourth-place finish in the final NCTS standings this season.

Penske, who as an open-wheel racing team owner has won the Indianapolis 500 13 times, fields cars for Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman in NASCAR under the Penske Racing South banner.