Brendan Gaughan hasn’t exactly been a stranger to his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, having competed at the 1.5-mile track in NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series events over the past three seasons.
But Saturday’s Smith’s 350 marks a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series homecoming for the 36-year-old Las Vegas native, winner of the race in 2003. Gaughan’s last start in a truck came in 2008, resulting in a 12th-place finish.
Gaughan was hoping for much better as the 2011 season winds down. The eight-time series winner and 2002 Sunoco Rookie of the Year is 13th in the points standings with a single top-five and five top-10 finishes. A victory in his hometown would certainly be welcome.
“Our strong run at New Hampshire (12th) is our precursor for heading to Las Vegas,” he said. “We’re taking the New Hampshire truck to Vegas. It has been to the wind tunnel recently and it has a different downforce balance than our other chassis. I think I’m gonna like the truck there.”
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