It is Tuesday of NASCAR Week, high noon, the Coronado Cafe at South Point. Michael Gaughan, who owns the joint, is about to break bread with his board of directors, which is what he calls the men who serve as his department heads and confidants. The topic switches to auto racing. Michael Gaughan is asked if he is proud of what Brendan Gaughan, his youngest son who has turned 40, has accomplished on the racetrack. He nods his head. His way of saying, yes, he is very proud. Then he says this season probably is going to be it for Brendan. What?
Yes, this is probably going to be Brendan Gaughan’s last season driving the black and yellow gold #62 South Point Chevy in the Xfinity Series for Richard Childress. Last season was to have been it, his old man said. But Childress talked him into letting Brendan make another season of left-hand turns – Childress’ racing grandsons, Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon, really like having Brendan around, Michael said.
The next day, Brendan Gaughan will say that he and his old man have yet to sit down and talk about this being it. But if his old man decides not to write the check, then yes, that will be it, because it’s difficult to be competitive in NASCAR without a good sponsor, no matter how heavy one’s foot is. In chatting with Brendan Gaughan, one laughs a lot. For a kid of means, he doesn’t have a spoiled bone in his body. Instead of pretension, you get self-deprecating humor. You get the impression he’d like to drive Richard Childress’ car and hang out with the Dillon boys for at least one more season after this one. Or two.(Las Vegas Review-Journal)(3-4-2016)
UPDATE: Brendan Gaughan is aware of the talk that he might retire after the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series season. He even has that conversation every year. ‘Every year, I almost retire,’ Gaughan said at Texas Motor Speedway. ‘When I closed my team down in 2007 and the way it closed down was personally pretty difficult. I never thought I’d race again from there in NASCAR. We’ve been talking about that for years. What happens is, my father some days is ‘ I think best way I can put it is what my grandfather used to say ‘ trying to tell my father a secret is like telling the Las Vegas Sun. He likes to talk when he gets around reporters.’ Gaughan was referring to a story that ran in the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month during the NASCAR Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series weekend indicating that 2016 would be it for Gaughan. And while he considers it each year, he’s not ready to call it a career just yet. ‘Every year he (his dad) and I talk about retirement,’ Gaughan said. ‘Every year I talk about it, he talks about it, one of us does, one of us doesn’t. We always are saying it and discussing it. But it’s always been the same strategy in my eyes. If I can’t win races, I don’t want to be here. ‘¦ As long as I can keep winning races and being up front and if we can make this Chase and keep competing for wins and championships, I think we will stay around as long as I can keep going.’(NASCAR.com)
