Gaughan excited about his step up to Nextel Cup Series

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

Brendan Gaughan is not easily impressed.

The son of casino magnate Michael Gaughan, he has rubbed elbows with countless celebrities at his father's casinos and played Division I basketball with Allen Iverson at Georgetown.

But when legendary auto racing team owner Roger Penske called Gaughan one Friday afternoon in December to formally offer him a job driving the No. 77 Dodge in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Gaughan couldn't mask his excitement.

"Look, I've got goose pimples," Gaughan said, extending his left arm in a show of proof, after ending the call. "Now that doesn't happen every day."

Less than a month after his lunch was pleasantly interrupted by the man known as "The Captain," Gaughan was behind the wheel of the No. 77 Kodak Dodge this morning for the first of two days of testing at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15.

Penske, who fields cars for Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman in the Nextel Cup Series, bought into the No. 77 Jasper Motorsports team, which has competed in NASCAR's premier series since 1994. Dave Blaney drove the No. 77 last season with sponsorship from Jasper Engines and Transmissions.

"I've got everything I want now," said Gaughan, who won six races and finished fourth in the final NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings last season. "There's a sponsor on the Craftsman Truck team -- a big sponsor ... and then to have something like this deal with Penske and Jasper ... everything's pretty special."

Gaughan said the Orleans Racing team, which his father owns, will continue to operate out of Las Vegas with a driver to be named and also will field a car in the NASCAR West regional series for driver Scott Lynch. Lynch also is expected to drive a second Orleans Racing truck in several races this season.

Shane Wilson, Gaughan's crew chief the past four years in the NASCAR Winston West and Truck Series, will serve as crew chief on the No. 77 Dodge. Wilson guided Gaughan to Winston West championships in 2000 and 2001 and eight victories in two seasons in the Truck Series.

Gaughan, 28, will contend for the Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year honors this season in what is shaping up to be one of the strongest rookie classes in recent years. Other top rookies include Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs, Johnny Sauter, 2003 NASCAR Busch Series champion Brian Vickers and Scott Wimmer.

"(Winning) Rookie of the Year is automatically a goal," Gaughan said. "What's really awesome is that this is one of the most competitive Rookie of the Year classes ever. If you look at the drivers and the caliber of race teams that are in the Rookie of the Year deal this year, this is going to be fun.

"But I have higher goals than just the rookie battle. I'm driving for Penske-Jasper Racing, I'm going to be working with Ryan Newman a lot and everybody knows that Ryan Newman knows how to win, so I want to go out and follow him and learn a bunch from Rusty and try to kick some butt."

Blaney posted four top-10 finishes and finished 28th in the 2003 Cup standings in the No. 77. With Penske bringing his considerable resources to the team, Gaughan said he expects the team to be competitive this season.

"I'm going to leave my goals personal and private for right now," he said. "I always have lofty goals and if my team backs me up, they know that I have lofty goals and they will know my goals. We'll just work toward having a successful race operation that Kodak is happy with, that Penske-Jasper is happy with and see if we can't go win multiple races."

Gaughan said he realizes that he will be expected to produce as a driver for Penske -- who has 50 Cup victories as a team owner, including eight last season with Newman -- and welcomes the challenge.

"I have a great opportunity to come in here and succeed," Gaughan said. "I'm going to take this as my one shot to succeed (in the Nextel Cup Series); I'm not going to approach it any other way. If I can do it, there isn't any better opportunity than what I'm getting here.

"Some people say it's too much pressure but I like it; it's the way I respond to things and it makes it even more exciting. I signed a multiyear deal with performance outs. In other words, I have to perform to keep my job -- that was at my request."