NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan doesn't often make headlines for his feats on the track. But, after the Cup Series playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway back in 2019, the driver of the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Beard Motorsports was all over the news. Unfortunately, it was Gaughan's massive wreck on Lap 183 of the 1000Bulbs.com 500 that earned him his front page status.
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When Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch made contact with only five laps to go in the race, this caused an 11-car wreck, with Gaughan seemingly getting the worst of it by going airborne and flipping completely upside down.
Despite the severity of the crash, Gaughan, who placed 27th, was in relatively good spirits following his post-wreck trip to the infield care center, which he fortunately came away from unscathed.
"In 22 years of NASCAR racing — I've flipped a ton in the desert — I've never flipped a stock car until now," Gaughan told NBC Sports. "So my mother and father might be a little upset. I'm 44, but I still have a mommy and a daddy. I think they're probably a little hot right now but I'll cool them down."
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When he was told he nailed his flip, Gaughan couldn't help but crack a little joke at his own expense.
"No, they said the Russian judge, politics, he docked me a couple of points," Gaughan said. "He said I didn't put them all down at the same time. Politics are nasty right now, so screw them."
Being 44 year old at the time of the wreck, Gaughan was certainly no rookie. The Las Vegas native actually got his start back in 1997, and ran 67 Cup Series races, 219 Xfinity Series races, and 217 Truck Series races over the course of his NASCAR career.
Gaughan has since retired from full-time competition, and judging from the severity of his crash at Talladega, it seems like he may have made the right decision.
[sweeps]
This post was originally published on October 15, 2019.
