Tuesday, May 20, 2003 | 1:04 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Brendan Gaughan finished second in Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina and actually fell a spot in the points, from third to fourth.
But Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, isn't complaining. Although race winner Ted Musgrave slipped ahead of him into third place in points, Gaughan now trails front-runner Bobby Hamilton by only 57 points.
"We ran out of gas at Daytona (and finished 10th), we got taken out at Martinsville (and finished 16th) and I've gotten beat by Bobby Hamilton and Ted Musgrave the other times," Gaughan said. "I'd say we're happy with our performance.
"You have to be in position to win and we've been in position to win every race but one this year. If we keep staying in position to win, we're going to be mighty tough. That's how you win races; you put yourself in that position five times and you win one or two."
Gaughan is riding a very nice stretch going into the May 30 race at Dover International Speedway. He has one second-place finish and two third-place efforts in his past four races and is heading to a pair of tracks that he said enjoys running: Dover and Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan was seventh at Dover last year and won both truck races at Texas in 2002.
"I'm excited about Dover," Gaughan said. "Texas, we know how to get around there and we know we do well there ... and Dover is a fun place -- and nobody expects us (to do well) there. But nobody expected us at Daytona, Darlington, Martinsville, Charlotte.
"Let them keep not noticing us -- it doesn't bother us. We'll let them not notice us all the way to the points lead."
Hamilton holds a narrow 20-point lead over Rick Crawford in Truck Series standings and Musgrave is only 50 points off the pace.
Knowing that at least some portion of the field was going to be inverted after the second segment, Busch opted to race for the lead -- and the $50,000 bonus -- rather than hold back and possibly get a favorable starting position in the final 20-lap segment. Busch won the second segment but started 10th when the top 10 was inverted for the final leg of the race.
"I don't think playing possum puts on a good show," Busch said, defending his decision to go for the lead in the second segment. "There are guys that position themselves to do that. I knew (Jeff Gordon) would, I knew (Johnson) would, and there were a couple other cars that you knew would position themselves to take that route.
"I was running fifth in the second segment and I (could have) said, 'OK, I'm going to park it here, we're just going to ride it and finish it.' But the fans come out to see a good show. I'm not saying it's wrong to play possum, but there are guys that choose to do that and there are guys that choose to race their car."
Busch offered a solution to avoid having drivers "play possum" in future events.
"Why don't we put up money for passing racecars?" Busch said. "I think that's what puts on a good show."
Chuck Trickle leads Scott Gafforini by two points in the track standings while Mike Cofer is in third place, only eight points out of the lead.
Mechanix Wear Speed Trucks, IMCA Modifieds, Bandolero Cars, Legends Cars and Thunder Roadsters also will be in action. Spectator gates open at 6 p.m. and qualifying begins at 6:15.
In last Saturday night's action at The Bullring, Glenn Burk captured his fourth Late Model victory of the season and Don Sargent earned his third main-event victory of the year in the Chargers division. Other winners were Wayne Morris Jr. (IMCA Modifieds), Michael Fredericks (Pro/Master Legends), Taylor Barton (Semi-Pro Legends) and Tim Click (Bullring Bombers).
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