NASCAR Winston West regular Brendan Gaughan will try his hand at NASCAR Winston Cup racing with former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Andy Graves in the CarsDirect.com 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race on March 5 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gaughan, a 24-year old Las Vegas native, is the full-time driver for Orleans Racing, which is located in LVMS’s Research and Development Center. The state-of-the art race shop is home to a full-time NASCAR Winston West team, part-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck team and the future home of a cutting-edge engine building complex. Graves, who joined Chip Ganassi’s CART team this year after a 10-year history with Hendrick Motorsports, will assist the team with building its 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, advise them on race and qualifying setups and act as crew chief on race day. The car will be the #62 NAPA Auto Parts/The Orleans Casino Chevrolet(LVMS PR)(2-8-2000) — UPDATE: hearing Gaughan’s Cup debut will not happen at Vegas and will be delayed — UPDATE 2: Orleans Racing has made a last-minute decision not to enter next weekend’s CUP race at Las Vegas, delaying the debut of Brendan Gaughan. The reason: rain. The team was not able to secure a testing date as rain left only a few open test dates which were booked by the IRL. Gaughan was able to sneak onto the track for a brief shakedown session Thursday morning with one of the team’s Winston West engines in the new car and chassis, but some minor bugs were discovered. The team will focus on qualifying for the April 30 Cup race at California(Las Vegas Review)(2-25-2000)
