Bristol is One of Gaughan's Favorites

Driver: Brendan Gaughan
Owner: Michael Gaughan
O’Reilly Auto parts 200 presented by Valvoline
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race: Wednesday, August 23 – 9:15 pm
Qualifying: Saturday, August 23 – 5:30 pm
0.533-mile oval, 200 miles/ 106.6 laps

Notes of Interest:

Adorning Gaughan’s Dodge this week will be the colors of Sherwin Williams’ “Planet Color” line. While this is the first time that Sherwin Williams has been shown as the primary sponsor on the Orleans Racing entry it’s not the beginning of the relationship as the “Planet Color” logo – and paint – has covered the No. 77 since early in the 2006 season.

Military Appreciation Program (MAP):

The Mission Statement: Air Force Special Operations Command Combat Controllers are Battlefield Airmen assigned to special tactics squadrons. They are trained special operations forces and certified FAA air traffic controllers. The mission of a combat controller is to deploy, undetected, into combat and hostile environments to establish assault zones or airfields, while simultaneously conducting air traffic control, fire support, command and control, direct action, counter-terrorism, foreign internal defense, humanitarian assistance and special reconnaissance in the joint arena.

Their motto, "First There," reaffirms the combat controller’s commitment to undertaking the most dangerous missions behind enemy lines by leading the way for other forces to follow.

The piece: Gaughan will drive Orleans Racing’s T17

Gaughan on Bristol: “I don’t think you need to give Bristol Motor Speedway any introduction. Bristol is just Bristol. Dover, Bristol and Darlington are the most fun racetracks in the world to drive. The only thing that sucks about Bristol is getting wrapped up in so many other people’s things. It doesn’t matter what you do. If a wreck happens on the front stretch and you’re on the backstretch you can still get involved in it. That’s the downside to Bristol.

“The upside is, it’s Bristol. It’s fun. It’s a fast, fast concrete track. Forget about what truck you bring. Forget about what body you bring. It’s time to go and try to kick some butt.

“If I remember last year’s race correctly we had a great truck. We had an early pit stop to make an adjustment and that put us in the back. Then we got wrapped up in some other driver’s wreck. You can’t miss it. That’s Bristol. This year this team has a whole different mojo going. We have really good luck going at the moment. That’s rare for this team so we’re trying to ride that as long as possible.

“If we can have a good qualifying run there and get that thing near the top ten we have avoided half the problems. We need to get near the front and stay near the front. We’re going to have a special paint scheme with Sherwin Williams. They’ve got the hood and the tailgate painted. It’s got Martians and comets and planets on it and it’s pretty neat. We’re going to tell everybody to watch out. I’m weird anyway and now I’ve got an alien on my hood.

“Tech Sergeant Freeman (an Air Force Special Operations Command Combat Controller) will be with us this weekend. He’s the one who’s been getting the Orleans Racing team involved with Nellis Air Force Base and getting us together with the A-10 guys who my dad is the honorary commander of. It’s been a lot of fun. He’s with the 720th OS and we’ve run their logos a couple of times. We’ll have it on as part of our MAP program this week. We’re going to run his unit’s logo. We do love the military and we’ve talked about it all year. We know the things we like to do for them. I told Freeman to bring his gun this weekend and wear a headset and stay in touch with his guys in the airplanes and take care of some of the competition for us.

“Speed has expanded their pre-race coverage and it’s a really neat deal to see that the Craftsman Trucks have our own pre-race show. They’ve put Hermie Sadler in the booth for the rest of the year and that’s just great. Hermie has got a bit of a thick accent but he’s fun to listen to. He’s really good. I’m glad to see that they’ve found one person that they want to use. That brings more continuity to the booth when you have the same people every week.”