Brendan Gaughan to drive for RWI in 2009 Nationwide series

January 5, 6:13 PMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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I know many NASCAR fans out there will be under whelmed at this news, but I look at it as a positive sign not only for the Rusty Wallace team, but for the Nationwide series as a whole.

So the news straight from the Rusty Wallace Inc. PR release is that Brendan Gaughan will drive the #62 Chevy for RWI and compete for the 2009 Nationwide Series Rookie of the year.

This car was the #64 entry driven last season by David Stremme and Max Papis to a top ten finish in point’s position. Obliviously this is a very good race team that has yet to reach its full potential.

Of course Gaughan will be labeled the Paul Menard of the Nationwide series since his dad’s casino, the South Point Casino and Spa, will serve as the primary sponsor of the team.

The Gaughan family has a long history of doing things much like this. Brendan made a name for himself racing his father’s trucks with his fathers company as primary sponsor.

With that being said Gaughan is a former Truck series rookie of the year and has never finished worse then 19^th in the truck series points when he has raced the full schedule. In my mind that makes him ready to take on the challenge that is the Nationwide series, but not the Cup series.

In fact Brendan has a full year’s worth of experience on the Cup level driving the #77 Jasper Engines entry during the 2004 campaign. That year was a very forgettable campaign, but one that is pretty consistent with Cup rookies over the years.

He did not finish eight of those races, and an average finish of 25.4 and average start of 20.9. Along the way he was able to rack up one top five, and 4 top ten finishes.

I bring all of that up as proof Brendan is not a Cup talent, but in the nationwide series with a strong team behind him I truly think he could make a significant splash in the Nationwide ranks.

Over his NASCAR career Brendan has only one career start in NASCAR’s number two division. So a lot of what we are dealing with is the unknown. However since RWI is reuniting him with his long time truck crew chief, Brian Berry who will lead the #62 team. I would look for this team to have a decent season, and contend for a few wins along the way.