Martinsville Practice

Brendan Gaughan makes no secret of the fact that he is not a fan of Martinsville Speedway. On Friday, Gaughan was even less thrilled with the .566-mile paperclip oval after a one and a half hour practice session.

Gaughan struggled with the handling of his No. 77 South Point Chevrolet throughout practice, saying that the truck would not turn in the corners.

Despite multiple changes to the truck during practice, Gaughan never got the feel that he was looking for at the short track. He finished 19th on the board with a 20.30 second lap. Jack Sprague was the fastest after practice with a 19.96 second lap.

Although disappointed with his practice times, Gaughan said he believes his team will get the truck where it needs to be for tomorrow’s Kroger 200.

"I have a great team who doesn't quit," Gaughan said. "We aren't very good right now, but I have confidence that Bryan Berry and the boys will figure this thing out.

"I'm going to try and look on the bright side of things - in the spring, we were great in practice and just horrible in the race. I'm thinking we could turn that around this weekend. We were 19th in practice, and I think we will be just fine in the race."

Gaughan was able to get a little extra practice time at Martinsville on Friday as he wheeled Robby Gordon’s No. 7 Jim Beam car in NEXTEL Cup practice.

“I was just doing a favor for a friend,” Gaughan said. “Robby got held up getting to the track, so he called and asked if I could be on standby for him. They got the track dried before he got here, so I climbed in and tried to help out his team. We were 15th in Cup practice.”

The South Point team will qualify tomorrow at 11:10 a.m. ET. The green flag for the Kroger 200 waves at 3 p.m. ET.