GAUGHAN GRABS FIRST VICTORY IN NASCAR WINSTON WEST SERIES

Source: NASCAR Public Relations
Date: 03/28/2000

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (March 27, 2000) - Brendan Gaughan knows haw to be patient. He demonstrated that patience en route to notching his first NASCAR Winston West Series victory in the Outback Steakhouse 200 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., on March 25.

The win for the 24-year-old Las Vegas, Nov., competitor came in only his second race after joining the NWWS championship team headed by Bill McAnally.

"I've worked my whole career for this," Gaughan said from victory lane after the race. "I'm just really happy to get the win at Bakersfield."

Although Gaughan started from the outside of the front row, he was content to fall back in the early stages of the race. He slipped to ninth in the first 20 laps, allowing his competition to set the pace out front. He carefully worked his way to the front as the race progressed - moving up to sixth by lap 50 and fourth by lap 100.

Gaughan put the NAPA Auto Parts/Martin Senour Chevrolet in the top spot during a round of pit stops on lap 127 and remained out front for the remainder of the race. His margin of victory was .969 of a second at a speed of 66.914 mph. The former off-road competitor won $13,435 in prize money and posted awards.

Steve Portenga of Sparks, Nev., was second in the Roto-Rooter Chevrolet, with Joe Bean of San Diego, Calif., third in the Foods Co/Coca-Cola/City of Hope Ford. Fourth went to Mike Duncan of Lamont, Calif., in the MB Duncan Motorsports Chevrolet, while Mark Reed of Bakersfield was fifth in the Foods Co/Coca-Cola Pontiac. Rounding out the top 10 were John Metcalf, Lance Hooper, Sammy Potashnick, Marty Houston and Bobby Dotter.

The race featured nine lead changes among six drivers - Gaughan, Portenga, Metcalf, Hooper, Bud Pole winner Bill Sedgwick and Gatorade Front Runner winner Kevin Richards. It was the eighth Bud Pole Award of Sedgwick's career at the high-banked Y-mile facility, as he turned in a speed of 95.552 mph in the DuPont Stainmaster Carpet Chevrolet. A lap 156 incident relegated Sedgwick to 21g~. Richards, who secured the Gatorade award for leading the most laps of the race, was sidelined for more than 40 laps with a broken pinion gear and ended up 22nd.

The victory moved Gaughan into first place in the NWWS championship point standings following two events. Hs leads with 340 points, followed by Potashnick of Sikeston, Mo., with 307, Dotter of Charlotte, N.C., with 304, Richards of Spokane, Wash., with 292 and Metcalf of Aurora, Colo., with 287. Portenga with 283, Bean with 280, Scott Gaylord with 268, Mike Grady with 261 and Sedgwick with 255 complete the top 10.

Grady of Farmington, N.M., leads the standings in the competition for the Rookie-of-the-Year Award. He has 17 points, followed by Duncan and Rick Bogart of El Cajon, Calif., with 15 each. They are followed by Travis Powell of Snohomish, Wash., with 13; Troy Cline of Hawthorne, Calif., with 11; John Borneman III of Ramona, Calif., with nine; Gene Christensen of Garland, Texas, with seven; Don Holcomb of Mesa, Ariz., with six; and Jeff Jefferson of Naches, Wash., with four.

Chevrolet, with two wins, leads in the standings for the Manufacturers' Championship in the Series with 18 paints - followed by Ford with 12 points and Pontiac with eight points.

The next event on the NASCAR Winston West Series schedule is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on April 22.

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