A day of trial and error for Busch and Gaughan

Monday, Feb. 16, 2004 | 11:02 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- An eventful race left Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan with mixed emotions about his first career start in the Daytona 500.

Gaughan ran in the top 15 for much of the day until a late-race penalty for speeding in the pits put him a lap down and relegated him to a 19th-place finish at Daytona International Speedway.

"I hope we made (my sponsor) Kodak happy," Gaughan said. "It was not the finish I wanted but we're in one piece and we go to Rockingham next week and we'll take the rest of the season as it comes."

Fellow Las Vegan Kurt Busch, who finished second in last year's Daytona 500, finished 16th Sunday in his fourth Daytona 500 start.

Gaughan, a NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie, started the race 17th but fell to 41st 13 laps into the race after making slight contact with Matt Kenseth while trying to avoid a smoking car on lap 7.

"When (Mark) Martin was smoking, I ended up door-slamming Matt Kenseth," Gaughan said. "Martin was coming down off the racetrack and I went down -- I'm not racing back to the caution; I'm just racing to get past the accident -- and Matt was checking up and I slid into Matt.

"It was just one of those things where I was just trying to get by the wreck. The Penske-Jasper guys worked hard and I'm really proud of them. We had four or five stops our first time together and they did a little bit of body work and we still had a great Dodge."

Gaughan eventually worked his way back up in the field and was running 14th when he was flagged by NASCAR officials for speeding entering pit road with 32 laps remaining in the race.

"(NASCAR) felt I was speeding but that's all right," Gaughan said. "I came in hot and maybe I was speeding -- I couldn't tell.

"We had a good racecar and we were fast. If we would have been able to get out with people in the draft, we would have hung in there and been in that pack for the lead, but it's part of racing."

It was Gaughan's third race on the historic 2.5-mile oval, but his first in NASCAR's premier series. Gaughan, who ran two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races here, said he wasn't overwhelmed by his first Daytona 500.

"It's just another race when the green flag drops, but it's very intense," he said. "There are a lot of times where I couldn't believe people started beating on each other that early.

"I just wish we could have stayed with that pack; we would have had a hell of a Dodge for them today. We really do believe we would have had (a great finish) ... but when you lose the draft, you're done."

Busch also finished a lap off the pace -- the result of having to pit under a green flag after making slight contact with eventual race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. early in the race.