Gaughan’s Comeback Results in 16th at San Diego

Venue: Naval Base Coronado

FINISH: 16th

Start: 28th

Brendan Gaughan, driver of the No. 20 South Point Hotel & Casino, was able to salvage what started out as a very complicated day for the veteran driver, into a stout finish just outside the top 15 in the Navy 250 at Naval Base Coronado. During the Friday morning practice and qualifying session, Gaughan was struggling to with the handling on his race truck, making it difficult to find a good pace. Coming off Turn 16 during his qualifying run, Gaughan got loose and shot into the inside pit road retaining wall, causing significant damage to the No. 20 Chevrolet. It was a thrash to fix the existing truck but the No. 20 team, led by crew chief Dewey Townsend, was able to get Gaughan’s ride put back together just in time to hit pit road to start the 50-lap event.

Throughout Stage One, Gaughan noticed that there was something mechanically wrong with his race truck. Under the first caution of the day, he reported a massive vibration but he could not identify where it was coming from. Under the stage break, Townsend (Dewey, crew chief) through a handful of adjustments in the truck along with four tires and fuel. Gaughan was able to hold on and keep the truck on track for the remainder of the stage but came down pit road under yellow for the team to diagnose issues with the sway bar. The No. 20 crew assessed the damage and began to work on the fix before the field went green to avoid going a lap down.

Unfortunately, time ran out and Gaughan restarted the final laps at San Diego one lap down but continued his fight to the finish. Yellow flags started to fall and Gaughan received the “Lucky Dog” to get around the field under caution and snag his lap back to stay on the lead lap. The veteran driver came down pit road still under yellow and the crew put in more work for damage control as he fell just short of the restart and went back a lap down. The chaos continued to unfold and Gaughan fought hard to get back on the lead lap and as the field headed into NASCAR’s version of overtime, the driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet found himself in the 22nd position. Battling with every ounce of fight he had left, Gaughan was able to power through the scuffles and rally to a 16th-place finish in Coronado.

Brendan Gaughan Quote:

“Man, this was super fun and I am so thankful for this crew to get us back in the game after the day we started out with. We were broke from the start, I couldn’t even keep up with the field and these guys never gave up. This was was truly an honor for Bill (McAnally, team owner) to let me come out here out of retirement and run his equipment and I just can’t thank everyone enough for this opportunity.”