By Keith Parsons
The Associated Press
Posted May 30 2004

CONCORD, N.C. · Brendan Gaughan was fourth fastest in the first practice Saturday, but he crashed on the second lap of the final session. His team was forced to roll out the backup Dodge, and he'll go to the rear of the starting grid.

He was scheduled to start seventh.

"I just overdrove it," he said. "I was trying to push, but we've got cars now. When you push things, you break sometimes."

The car his team pulled off the transporter was used at Darlington, and Gaughan tested it at Kentucky. It also went to the wind tunnel.

When he got on the track with it, he wound up 29th fastest in the second practice.

"This is a good race car," Gaughan said. "It wasn't the one we wanted, but it actually feels like it might be a little better. It's not as tight as the other one. We may actually be with a better Dodge now."

Another car going to the back for the start will be Ward Burton, even though he wasn't even at the track Saturday.

Jason Leffler, who drives in the Busch Series for Burton's Haas CNC Racing team, drove the Chevrolet in practice, since Burton was home for his daughter's high school graduation.

Early on, the engine in the car failed, and the team had to replace it.

"We had a little engine problem on the third lap of the first practice," crew chief Tony Furr said. "We had thought about not even practicing, but we thought we'd just go out and make sure there was no vibration. I guess it's a good thing we did."