by Mike Snow

Driver: Brendan Gaughan
Owner: Michael Gaughan
Event: MBNA 200
Dover International Speedway – Dover, Del.
Friday, June 3, 2005 – 4:45 p.m. (EDT)
Qualifying: Thursday, June 2, 2005 – 5:10 p.m. (EDT)
1.0-mile oval, 200 miles/200 laps

Notes of Interest:

The Dodge Ram Gaughan will roll in the MBNA is T10. The #77 Jasper Engines and Transmissions team carries T13 as a backup.

Gaughan has two prior starts at Dover --- which came in 2002 and 2003. In those starts his best qualifying effort came in 2003 when he qualified his Dodge 4th (finished 18th) and his best finish came in 2002 when he rolled his Dodge home in 7th place.

Gaughan on Dover:

“I’ve always loved Dover. The first time I went there, I’ll never forget, I talked to Robert Pressley. I was way off. I kept going into Turn 1 and lifting at a certain point and using the brakes and slowing down. I finally went to Robert Pressley and said, ‘Robert, where do you lift over here? Where do you hit the brakes?’ He said, ‘Hit the brakes? We don’t hit the brakes.’ So I listened to him and where he said to lift and do all this stuff and I went back to my crew chief and said, ‘OK, we may have to pull out the back-up but we’re going to give it a shot.’

“It’s the most exciting race track for a driver. It’s just like a roller coaster. I’ve always told people it might be the scariest place you’ll ever race but it’s also the most fun. You never believe in a million years that the Goodyears will stick at the speed you drive into a corner at Dover. It’s a fun place.

“I had a great run going there in 2003 and had an unfortunate deal where I got tangled up with Tina Gordon. I made a mistake and took us both out. But I’ve been fast there even in a Cup car last year. We qualified in the top ten and were running in the top ten and a wreck happened in front of me and I couldn’t miss it. It’s always been a really, really good track.

“I always say that in racing you don’t feel the speed because everybody around you is doing the same speed. That statement is out of place at Dover. You can feel the speed there. When you drive off into Turn 1, there’s a blip as you go into Turn 1 and when you drive in there you think there’s no way you’ll stick at that speed. I had to be reminded to breathe in 2002. My spotter, Billy Holbrook, had to come on every three laps and say, ‘OK, take a deep breath for me now, bud.’ I literally was holding my breath. You can definitely feel speed there.

“I’m pretty happy right now. I feel that our trucks are now to the point where I’m starting to feel a lot better with them. Charlie Wilson has worked his tail off getting our bodies better. The stuff that Billy Wilburn was working on is all finished up now and I’ve got a crew chief that I’m having a lot of fun with. I think that chemistry between me and Rambo is literally going to start clicking when we go to a place like Dover. I feel our bodies are better. I feel we’ve got great geometry. Now that we’ve got a leader that’s really clicking with the guys and really clicking with the driver, I think it’s going to be a really fun weekend for a change.

DISCUSS SHORT RACES IN THE TRUCK SERIES – “That’s the fun thing about the Truck Series. I watched the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend and it was five hours and ten minutes or something. The fans love it but none of the drivers like that. It makes for a very long evening and even the fans don’t want to stay that long. That’s the fun thing about the Craftsman Truck Series. How ever many laps it is it isn’t a very long race and you’re on the go from the get-go. Yeah, you have to save some tires but you’ve only got two sets to burn through and you’ve only got two chances to make those adjustments. It’s Dover, which is a roller coaster ride anyway and you are hammer down from the get-go.”

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”
 
 
Jackman

Scott Witz
Tucson, AZ
Fabricator
Gas Man

Mike Robinson
Toole, UT
Mechanic
Catch Can

Ray Poyner
 
Engineer
Engineer