by Mike Snow

Driver: Brendan Gaughan
Owner: Michael Gaughan

EVENT: Quaker Steak & Lube 200
Lowe's Motor Speedway - Concord, N.C.
Friday, May 20, 2005 - 8:45 p.m. (EDT)
Qualifying: Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 7:00 p.m. (EDT)
1.5-mile oval, 201 miles/134 laps

Trucks --- #1 (Lonestar) primary #13 backup

Best Finish @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway – 2nd in 2003

Brendan Gaughan, driver of the #77 Jasper Engines Dodge Ram

“The last time we were here in a truck (2003) it was one of those famous Craftsman Truck Series finishes, a green white checker. On the final restart me and Ted Musgrave – I drove by him on the restart, he spun the tires. He got back by me and I went flatfoot through turns three and four to try to make it ---she almost made it, didn’t quite stick though. That’s what’s good about Lowe’s and the Craftsman Trucks --- we can go two or three wide and make a good race out of it.

What’s your take on the work done to Lowe’s Motor Speedway?

“The new surface and the fact that most of the bumps in the corners that used to upset the truck are gone. I think you’re going to see even more side-by-side racing. The bottom groove is going to be fast again. In the past once your tires went you went up top because you couldn’t handle those bumps. I think you’re going to see a dramatically different race because of what Humpy (LMS president H.A. Wheeler) and Bruton (chairman of Speedway Motor Sports Bruton Smith) did to the track. I think it’s a good thing. It’s going to be a lot of fun.

Strategy for this event?

It’s a Craftsman Truck race --- its just go like hell. Craftsman Truck races aren’t like Nextel Cup races, they’re not 500 mile or 600 mile races, it’s a 200 or 250 mile race. You want to get to the front and stay there as long as possible. Yeah there are times you come from the back. I mean Lonestar, the truck we have here, we proved it at Texas Motor Speedway. We went from the back quite a few times. But with the luck of the Jasper Engines team of late I’d like to see clear air all day. That wouldn’t be bad.

Lonestar’s been rebuilt ground up.

We’ve done a bunch with it lately. Billy Wilburn, while he was there, he really got our chassis fixed up. We had a lot of geometry issues and chassis issues. Thanks to Charlie Wilson and Ryan Isabelle they really put a lot of effort into getting the body correct. It was way off. We don’t know what we did to it but we had it really messed up. We feel a lot more confident now coming here.

Rambo (Tony Liberati – interim crew chief of the #77 Jasper Engines Dodge) working with the guys all week at the old Jasper Engines shop at the old Jasper Engines shop, he got to be around the guys a little bit – feel them out a little bit. He and Charlie Wilson got to talk about a few things, get a few tidbits on how the truck the truck might handle. We should have a little bit better communication than showing up an hour before the first practice and say ‘here’s your truck’, like we did at Mansfield last week. I’m excited to work with Tony again this week after he’s had some time with the truck.

“This is where NASCAR calls it’s home, you know Charlotte, we’re looking forward to doing a few exciting things this Friday night under the lights.”

Meet the Crew:

Name
Hometown
Shop Duties
Race Day Duties

Brendan Gaughan
Las Vegas, NV
General Manager
Driver

Tony Liberati
 
Crew Chief
Crew Chief

Lance Wilson
Bakersfield, CA
Truck Chief
Rear Tire Carrier

Mike Robinson
Tooele, UT.
Mechanic
Rear Tire Changer

Chris Boller
Prescott, AZ
Truck Driver
Front Tire Carrier

“CJ”
 
Mechanic
Jackman

Scott Witz
Tucson, AZ
Fabricator
Gas Man

Mike Robinson
Toole, UT
Mechanic
Catch Can

Ray Poyner
 
Engineer
Engineer

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