LOOKING IN ON: MOTOR SPORTS

Thursday, June 21, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

This isn't what Brendan Gaughan envisioned when he made the switch from Dodge to Chevrolet before the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

After 10 of 25 races, Gaughan is 15th in points and has only three top-10 finishes in his South Point Racing Silverado. He also is certain of two things: He made the right decision to change manufacturers and his luck this season couldn't get much worse.

"The biggest thing is that we know the Chevrolets we've been putting on the racetrack have been fantastic," he said. "For a while there, we just couldn't catch a break. We couldn't get the monkey off our back."

Gaughan and his team experienced just about every bad break possible, from getting caught up in someone else's wreck in the first turn of a race in which he qualified fifth, to suffering a blown engine 33 laps into a race in which he appeared to have one of the trucks to beat.

"Nobody on this team ever hit the panic button," he said. "We know we have good equipment. It's not like two years ago or a year ago where our equipment wasn't the greatest and we were trying to make it better, trying to be positive and trying to make everything as good as possible.

"Now, we have great equipment. We're destroying it, but we have great equipment."

Gaughan is hoping his luck is changing . He is coming off a season-best third-place finish last weekend at Michigan International Speedway and Friday will race on a track - the Milwaukee Mile - where he has a victory (in 2003) and two other top-five finishes in four career starts.

"One good run feels good, but we've got to go to Milwaukee and prove it two weeks in a row , and then I'll start feeling a little better," he said.

Switching gears

At least four NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers will step out of their rides this weekend at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., in favor of road-course specialists.

Among the Cup regulars who will watch Sunday's race at the 1.99-mile, 12-turn circuit from the pits are Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann, Tony Raines and Mike Bliss.

Terry Labonte will come out of retirement to drive the No. 55 Toyota for Waltrip; P.J. Jones will pilot the No. 00 Toyota for Reutimann; Ron Fellows will take over for Raines in the No. 96 Chevrolet; and Klaus Graf will fill in for Bliss in the No. 49 Dodge.

Labonte, a two-time Cup champion, also will fill in for Waltrip at the road-course race at Watkins Glen International in New York state in August.

Labonte has eight top-10 finishes in 18 career starts at Infineon and was third there last year in the No. 96 Chevrolet.

Moving on up

Former Las Vegas businessman Mark Dyer has been named president and chief executive of Motorsports Authentics, the merchandise retailer owned jointly by International Speedway Corp. and Speedway Motorsports Inc.

Dyer, 48, owned and operated the NASCAR Cafe at the Sahara Hotel and Casino before joining NASCAR in 2002 as vice president for licensing and consumer products.

Career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victories for Brendan Gaughan

Top-10 finishes for Brendan Gaughan in 122 career Truck Series starts

"I don't think we are out there reinventing the wheel, but hopefully we can break some new ground with what we are going to do."

Veteran NASCAR driver Kyle Petty, who will serve as a color commentator on TNT's telecast of Sunday's Nextel Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway while driving the No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge