Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Brendan Gaughan has a plan for short-track race

Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2003 | 10:16 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

As the final short-track race on the schedule, Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway should prove to be a key race in deciding the 2003 championship.

Although series leader Brendan Gaughan of Las Vegas has yet to win a truck race on a track less than a mile in length, he said he has come up with a sure-fire way to finish in the top five on Saturday.

"I just need to get in behind Dennis Setzer and just follow him," Gaughan joked, referring to the veteran driver who has scored all three of his victories this season on short tracks. "I've done that on big tracks for years with guys and you know what -- let's take that (approach) to the short-track races.

"If I follow Dennis, I'll probably be near the front at the end of the race."

Actually, Gaughan and his Orleans Racing crew have not been bad on the short tracks this season. In charging to the lead in the series points standings, Gaughan has posted five top-10 finishes in the seven short-track races, including a third at Mesa Marin Raceway and fourth-place efforts at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Bristol Motor Speedway.

"The short tracks have not been a liability for us this year," Gaughan said. "Everybody keeps making a big deal out of the fact we haven't won a short-track race ... but we haven't. Even without a win there, we know we're a championship-caliber race team -- we've just got to finish the championship year out."

Gaughan, who has a series-leading six victories this season, holds a 30-point lead over Travis Kvapil and a 73-point advantage over Ted Musgrave with three races remaining. Setzer, who won the spring race at Martinsville, is fourth in the standings and trails Gaughan by 117 points.

Jerry Nadeau drove the No. 01 car in the first 10 races this season before suffering serious head and lung injuries in a May 2 practice accident at Richmond International Raceway.

Nemechek will leave the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet following Sunday's race at Martinsville. Brian Vickers, who originally was scheduled to drive the No. 01 car for the final four races of this season, instead will pilot the No. 25 car in those four races.

MB2 Motorsports also announced it has teamed with Hendrick Motorsports and NEMCO Motorsports to establish a recovery driving program for Nadeau that most likely would include a combination of Nextel Cup, Busch and ARCA races next season.

"We were faced with circumstances that none of us wished we had to deal with," Jay Frye, general manager of MB2 Motorsports, said about Nadeau's injuries and recovery.

"But due to the reality of our current situation, we felt in the best interests of Jerry and of the race team this was the right path to take as we head into the 2004 season."

Nadeau said he has been frustrated at times because of the length of his recovery.

"I have repeatedly said that I will not rush back," Nadeau said in a statement released by the team. "I still have a ways to go, but I will get there. To be honest, the reality of not being able to come back sooner than I would have liked is hard to take.

"But I want to do this right and I am grateful to MB2, Hendrick Motorsports and NEMCO Motorsports for giving me the opportunity to work my way back to the Cup series."