Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gaughan sees light at end of the tunnel

Friday, June 25, 2004 | 9:45 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.

Brendan Gaughan is disappointed, but not discouraged.

Fifteen races into his rookie season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Gaughan has only one top-10 finish and is 29th in points going into Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Northern California.

"We're a little bit further behind than I wanted us to be right now," Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, said of his No. 77 Penske-Jasper Racing team. "There are so many good positives about this program, and I knew we had those things ... but, personally, I would have liked to be a little higher up and a little further along."

Still, Gaughan said he has reasons to be optimistic following a fifth-place finish last month at California Speedway and leading 13 laps last weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

"As long as you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you can feel more secure about what's going on," Gaughan said. "We're starting to come around. Right now, we're in a rebuilding year. The 77, the Jasper Engines folks, we had to go over to Dodge. As positive as it is, it's still tough to take all the bodies, cut them up and throw them away and put all new bodies on.

"Then we've integrated with the Penske program and added all new engineers. (Crew chief) Shane Wilson and I came along and they put all these three companies in a room and said, 'OK, get along, boys and girls.' We had some stuff that didn't work so well in the start but we're starting to gel pretty good. I can definitely see that light at the end of the tunnel."

Gaughan said he is looking forward to Sunday's race at Infineon Raceway -- the first of two road-course races on the Nextel Cup schedule.

"I always have my expectations higher than they probably want me to have, but I like road racing," he said. "If you don't go off the track, you'll probably end up in the top 10. One of the biggest things is to stay smart and don't go flying off the course and you'll be OK.

"Goal number one is to stay on the racecourse. After that, I'd love to get up there and battle with Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon and Ryan (Newman) and Robby (Gordon) for the lead -- you know those four guys will be near the front. With my road racing experience, I think as long as I keep my head I can do those things. This weekend, we've got a pretty darn good racecar, so we'll see what we can do with it."

BEATING THE TRAFFIC: The crew of Greg Biffle's No. 16 Nextel Cup Ford will arrive to and depart from Infineon Raceway on Sunday in a CH 47 Chinook helicopter, courtesy of the team's sponsor, the Army National Guard.

"We wanted to give the National Guard Team a morale boost," SFC John Metzler of the National Guard said. "They work week in and week out to give the men and women of the Army National Guard great a car to root for on the track. The morale they provide, we want to give back to them."

The CH 47 Chinook has a maximum payload of more than 7 tons, travels at up to 150 mph and can carry 33 people. The team will be flown from Oakland, Calif., to Infineon Raceway prior to the race and make the 20-minute return flight following the event.

"This is an amazing thing that the National Guard is doing for us," crew chief Doug Richert said. "It means a lot to the team. Aside from avoiding the raceday traffic, the experience alone will be something these guys won't forget."

ELLIOTT AT INDY: Bill Elliott, who won the 2002 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announced this week he will attempt to qualify for this year's race in the No. 91 Dodge with sponsorship from Visteon, an automotive aftermarket supplier.

Elliott, who is running a limited Nextel Cup schedule, has started only two points races this season -- in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and in April at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott finished 20th at Las Vegas and 36th at Texas after qualifying second.

MENARD TO DEI: NASCAR Busch Series rookie Paul Menard will join Dale Earnhardt Inc. and drive the No. 11 Menards Chevrolet in the Busch Series for the final 15 races of this season and the entire 2005 season.

Menard, 23, will make his debut with the new DEI Busch Series team on July 24 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Menards Super Home Centers, which will sponsor the car, is owned by Menard's father, John Menard.

"Since I began racing when I was 7 years old, I've dreamed about racing at the top of the sport in NASCAR," Paul Menard said. "To have the opportunity to race for Dale Earnhardt Inc., and Teresa Earnhardt is pretty amazing. I'll have a great teammate in the DEI family who's currently running for the championship right now in Martin Truex Jr.

"I'm looking forward to not only taking a big step forward in my own racing career, but to helping him and his team win the Busch title this season. I really can't wait to get started."

Menard had been driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for Andy Petree Racing and is 23rd in points after competing in 14 of 16 races this season.

BAD MOVE: According to a note by Speed Channel's Robin Miller, reigning Champ Car World Series champion and Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy was set to make his NASCAR Nextel Cup debut this weekend but his request was denied by Champ Car team owner Gerald Forsythe and Open Wheel Racing Series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven.

"Richard Childress offered me a ride last month but Gerry and Kevin thought it would confuse people and they would think I was going to NASCAR," Tracy told Miller. "I think it would have been good for Champ Car."

OUTLAWS UPDATE: Steve Kinser was declared the winner of Tuesday night's World of Outlaws "A" feature at Dodge City (Kan.) Raceway Park when Sammy Swindell's Maxim failed to pass the post-race inspection. Swindell's car failed to meet the series' weight requirement.

"You never want to win a race like this," Kinser said. "I'm really surprised because no one really pushes the weight very close anymore. I lost a race like that last year at Eldora, and I think up until now I'm the only one who ever got a feature win taken away for being light."

The victory allowed Kinser to extend his lead over Danny Lasoski to 120 points in the WoO standings. ...

World of Outlaws rookie of the year candidate Jonathan Allard is taking a leave of absence from the series to take care of his vision problems, his team announced Thursday.

Allard was examined by an eye doctor this week after he finished a career-best fifth in the No. 35 PRT Travel Maxim in the Eagle Nationals at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska. Allard has been experiencing night vision problems since crashing during a heat race at Rolling Wheels Raceway Park in New York earlier this month.