Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: He didn’t want it, but Gaughan had a hot time in Atlanta

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | 9:58 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 was on fire during Sunday's Golden Corral 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Literally.

Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, lost several laps when he was forced to pit after an electrical fire erupted in the cockpit of his No. 77 Penske-Jasper Racing Dodge.

"I had a fire for a good five, six laps and kept going 'maybe it will go out, guys,' " Gaughan said, "and finally it wasn't going to go out so we had to come in and put it out. I believe in Bill Simpson. What can I say; I feel safe in my Impact stuff."

Impact Racing is the new company safety pioneer Bill Simpson formed after he parted ways with Simpson Safety Equipment in 2001.

Gaughan had to settle for a 33rd-place finish Sunday -- his worst showing in his four rookie-season starts -- but said he is not discouraged with the slow start.

"We're going to keep getting better," Gaughan said. "The engineers at Penske and the engineers at Dodge think they know what they need. We have a lot of positives (and) our pit crew still is awesome.

"We had a lot of Kodak folks (at Atlanta) but they understand that we're getting better. Doug Bawel, the owner of Jasper, says this is a journey. It's a long journey and we're going to take it one step at a time. We're getting better each week and that's all we know."

Gaughan is 25th in points after four races and is fifth among the six rookies competing for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award.

Busch slipped one spot to sixth in the standings after his third consecutive finish in the top12. After a 16th-place showing in the season-opening Daytona 500, Busch has posted finishes of eighth at North Carolina Speedway and ninth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"It's a great start to a year with four races down," Busch said. "Our worst finish is 16th and that was due to an unscheduled pit stop at Daytona, so for us it's just a tribute to a great car.

"The engine program has really stepped up and that's what's enabling us to finish well. We just need to get better on the chassis side."

Busch, a Durango High grad, will make his fourth Busch Series start of the season Saturday at Darlington Raceway. Last year, Busch finished second to Hendrick Motorsports teammate Brian Vickers in the fall race at Darlington -- one of two runner-up finishes for Busch in seven races in 2003.

The package launches Sunday, April 25, with the Busch North Series race at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire. The first West Series race to be broadcast in high definition is the May 1 event from California Speedway in Fontana. A total of 18 races will be televised this season. HDNet is available to HDTV subscribers on DirecTV, DISH Network, Time Warner Cable and several NCTC cable affiliate companies, among others.

SPEED Channel will re-air in standard definition the 18 races produced by HDNet, as well as a number of additional originally-produced NASCAR Grand National Division events.