Brendan Gaughan Pre-Race Report - Daytona

Driver: Brendan Gaughan
Owner: Michael Gaughan
Event: Flex Fuel 250
Daytona Intl Speedway --- Daytona Beach, Fl.
Race: Friday, February 17th, 2006 – 8:15 pm
Qualifying: Thursday, February 16, 2006 – 6:30 pm
2.5-mile oval, 250 miles/100 laps

Notes of Interest:

Brendan Gaughan will field the No. 77 in 2006. Sponsorship from the Orleans Hotel and Casino adorns Gaughan’s Truck as the season opens and the team seeks primary sponsorship.

After weeks of preparation Brendan Gaughan and the Orleans Racing team is ready to reap the rewards of their off-season work. T16, the Dodge Ram that’ll contend in this week’s event, has 100’s of hours of preparation work done to it for the season opener.

The Flex Fuels 250 marks the first time the Craftsman Trucks will run a restrictor plate at Daytona International Speedway. The plate was introduced to slow the field to manageable speeds.

Members Only: Did you know that orleansracing.com has a members only section? This portion of the site currently contains recordings of team radio communications – races are updated within days of an event’s completion. The service is free and available to anyone after completing a short sign up form.

Are You Ready to Get Racing Again?

I’m very much looking forward to getting out there. The Orleans Racing team this off-season has worked harder than I think I’ve ever seen our race team work. We didn’t ask them to all the time. We didn’t tell them to all the time. The boys just got after it. We’ve got a good group of guys who want to be there and don’t want us to look bad anymore.

Tom Buzze is running the shop. Charlie Wilson’s back to work and is the general manager. We’ve got a whole organization from top to bottom that’s working together as a unit. No more ‘who’s doing that’ or ‘I’m trying to do that’. It’s a really nice deal.

Dodge has been very supportive. Dodge has given us a bunch of wind tunnel time and we’ve got a lot more wind tunnel time coming. They’ve been great with us as we’ve worked through some of our issues. I think they’ve done an excellent job helping our race team get back on track.

What Is Your Strategy for Friday Night?

I’m not sure right now. We’ll have to see how she (truck No. 16) runs. If it’s comfortably fast I’d rather run up front. I ran four cup races at the plate tracks and ran up front in two of them and got good finishes (13th and 4th at Talladega). The other two I didn’t and didn’t finish so well (20th and 36th). It will depend on how she runs. If I’ve got to push her hard to stay up front I might drop back and run with Bobby Hamilton at the back of the pack and make a push in the final 20 laps.

I guess that old saying “discretion is the better part of valor” will dictate our race pace. I know that I’d rather run up front and win so we can take the points lead to the next race at California. That would be the ideal situation.

Meet the Crew:

Name Hometown Shop Duty Race Day Duty

Tony Liberati Bellaire, OH Crew Chief Crew Chief
Lance Wilson Bakersfield, CA Front Suspension Rear Tire Changer
Danny Goad Martinsville, VA Mechanic / Tuner Rear Tire Hanger
Harley Rauch Fresno, CA Transmission/Gears Front Tire Changer
Jacen Johns Springfield, MO Mechanic Front Tire Hanger
Calvin Gravely Martinsville, VA Tire Spec / Fabricator Jack Man
Bill Caldwell Culver City, CA Truck Driver Fuel Man
Steve Fiedler Mooresville, NC Truck Driver Catch Can

Listen in on the #77: The team’s primary radio frequency is 451.3371