Gaughan Triumphs At Road America

An emotional Brendan Gaughan pulls into victory lane at Road America with the name of his late grandfather on the roof of his car.  [Mark Walczak Photo]

Elkhart Lake, WI – Rain, mist, clouds, heavier rain, clearing and finally sun.

These and more describe the Gardner Denver 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Road America: a race that forced crew chiefs to make hard decisions that sometimes worked out and at times proved difficult.

Brendan Gaughan, who came back from multiple incidents in his pursuit of late-race leader Alex Tagliani, finally won the rain interrupted, strategy filled race when Tagliani ran out of fuel with two laps to go after a late race caution made his fuel saving plans moot.

Nursing both an ever dwindling fuel supply and a dwindling lead, Tagliani’s Team Penske Ford ran out just past the pit entrance, opening the door for Gaughan, Chase Elliott and a surprising Kevin O’Connell to battle for the win through a green-white-checker finish on a damp, but drying circuit.

“We were the best car on the strategy we were on. We were lucky that our off-course incidents forced our strategy to change; and finally I didn’t screw up,” noted a jubilant Gaughan whose patience paid off as he scored his first career Nationwide Series win.  “On the restart we needed to be on rain tires. You can put on a hell of a show in the rain.”

And a show he did put on, first battling Chase Elliott and then a revived Alex Tagliani who fell perhaps one lap short of a great comeback after leading 19 laps before running out of that precious Sunoco fuel.

“We overcame an early tire leak and then worked hard to manage our fuel. We tried to go to the end, but got caught short and had to get pushed back to the pits,” noted the versatile Canadian who took on enough fuel and slick tires to make a two- lap run after Gaughan and Elliott. “We put on slicks since the track was drying and fought back from 23^rd on the last restart to second at the flag.”

But his exciting run through the field wasn’t without incident as he made contact with Elliott as the two entered Canada Corner on the last lap while battling for second: a move that the son of Bill didn’t appreciate.

“The track was still damp and I figured he would dive bomb me, but I didn’t know where or when,” Elliott recalled. “It’s frustrating. He wasn’t going to win the race.”

But as the two made contact Elliott was forced off his line and fell to fourth as road racer/venture capitalist Kevin O’Connell’s Chevrolet slipped past, allowing Gaughan to extend his lead to the finish.

“I needed a dry line (since he was on slicks) but some guys were taking away my dry line and it was like ice if I got on the wet. I did try to judge passes,” said a somewhat apologetic Tagliani, “and when he (Elliott) learned that I was on slicks all he said was ‘Good job mate.’ ”

The race was delayed for about an hour at the beginning as NASCAR waited to see if the low-hanging clouds would open up and allow teams to put on rain tires for the start. But after waiting, the event finally took the green flag with everyone on slicks as Sam Hornish Jr. led three times in the early going in his Joe Gibbs Toyota that he shares with Kyle Busch.

Hornish fell to 12^th at the finish after a series of off-course excursions dropped him well behind the lead group.

Rain did hit the circuit at the half-way mark and NASCAR called the field in to allow everyone to mount rain tires and top off their fuel as the track grew wet.

Two questions began to surface with about 12 laps remaining: Would the track dry enough for teams to switch back to slicks, and would the leaders who didn’t stop for fuel on a lap 38 caution, especially Hornish and Tagliani, have enough fuel to make it to the end?

For Tagliani it was a bitter answer to the fuel question as the decision to stay out likely cost his team the race.

“Our plan was to save the car. I picked up the lead in the rain and tried to manage our fuel and get to the end.” A plan that had some promise, but in the end helped Gaughan win the race with just a 0.820 second margin.

Regan Smith finished 13^th, but maintained his Nationwide Series point’s lead over Elliott Sadler (-10) and Chase Elliott (-11).

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