Gaughan Calls Homestead Test A Success!

Brendan Gaughan and the South Point Racing Team returned to Homestead-Miami Speedway on Thursday for a second day of testing at the 1.5-mile track.

And the results continued to be positive for the Las Vegas based team as they test their new Chevrolet Silverados. At day’s end, the No. 77 was fourth on the board.

“As good as we were last night, we decided to stay in most of the day instead of wasting time and tires,” Gaughan said. “So we waited out the heat and ended up having sticker tires to use at night.

“When we went out in the night session, we went to number one on the board on our first lap. We were number one most of the day, and we finished fourth.”

Gaughan said crew chief Bryan Berry’s plan for the nighttime test session was very aggressive, and they accomplished everything they wanted to try.

“The boys did a ton in the final three hours,” Gaughan said. “They were doing things in half an hour that it would take most teams the better part of a day to do. And with everything we tried, we stayed fast the whole time.”

Although the test session was deemed a success by the team, Gaughan did have one incident before leaving the track.

“On the last run, we wanted to do a big change. We wanted to try something that we haven’t been successful with in the past,” Gaughan said. “It was a major change to the truck, so we waited until the very end to try it. And on the last lap, we ended up slapping the wall in three and four. It wasn’t a hard hit, but that’s what testing is for – to try different things.

“The truck needs a new right side, and thanks to the Germain team, it’s already on its way to AJ Henry’s shop in Concord. It’s good to have friends in the business.

“By Monday, the truck will be on its way back to Las Vegas,” Gaughan continued. “AJ told me not to worry about it – he has another truck for me that he says is going to be better than this one.”

Gaughan sees the strong run in the Homestead test as a sign of good things to come for the South Point Racing team during the 2007.

“The teamwork has been phenomenal,” Gaughan said. “To see the guys smiling like this and having the Chevrolet folks happy with us makes me feel really, really good right now. I’m more excited about the season now than I was before the trip to Florida.”

The South Point Racing team will take the weekend off, but they will hit the race track again on Monday for a two-day test at Lakeland (FL) before returning to the race shop. Meanwhile, Gaughan will travel back to Nevada to compete in the Laughlin (NV) Desert Challenge off-road race this weekend. After the desert race, he will return to Florida for the test.

“It’s been a busy off-season in with the change over to Chevrolet and a busy week at the track for this team, but I think we have proven that we are up for the challenge,” Gaughan said. “We’re looking forward to the kickoff of the 2007 season.”