TALLADEGA, Ala.: Overcoming a series of pit-road penalties in the early stages of Monday’s postponed 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Brendan Gaughan found himself and his Beard Motorsports team in contention for an upset victory in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, then all hell broke loose.
On the backstretch with seven laps remaining, apparent slight contact between brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota Camry into the left-rear of Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet sending him spinning and into Kurt Busch which launched Gaughan’s race car into the air and flipped one time before landing back on all four wheels.
The Las Vegas, Nev. native was able to exit his car under his own power and was quickly treated and released from the infield care center.
Other drivers involved in the wreck included Chris Buescher, Matt DiBenedetto, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Hemric, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Preece, David Ragan and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
All drivers but Kurt Busch, DiBenedetto, Keselowski and Ragan continued to finish the race.
Gaughan said he would have rather flipped at Talladega than hit a wall at 200 plus miles per hour.
“Listen, I spent three years in off-road racing, and we flip flop,” Gaughan said with a wide smile and a chuckle. “The easiest thing you can do is go upside down because nothing hits hard. So that’s the nicest thing about it. I haven’t even seen it, but Brad (Keselowski) was pushing the crap out of me and I loved it. But man, the Beard Oil Distributing Chevy, we ran a great strategy. Darren Shaw, Ron Lewis our spotter, everybody…..it was awesome.
“The 62 was in front for a split second. I was just so proud and thank you to ECR, Richard Childress, Chevrolet and to Darren and Ron and all the guys on this team. The Beard family, I love them. Mother, it’s okay, it’s just a flip and it didn’t hurt, I promise.”
With a hard landing after a flip, there was immediate concern about Gaughan’s back sustaining an injury, but the 10-time NASCAR winner said he wasn’t worried about landing – but rather getting hit by another car after landing.
“It’s okay because you are still going 200 mph that way,” explained Gaughan. “So, it never just drops out of the sky. It was okay, it was just one easy, quick flip and we put it down. The only thing you worry about then is somebody hitting you. That is what you don’t want and that is where the fear comes in.
“Other than that, I am fine and like I said, some people would argue that I have anything up there that’s going to hurt. Thank you to Chevrolet and thank you to the Beard family, love you guys.”
The 43-year-old Gaughan said he’ll return with his Beard Motorsports team next February for the Daytona 500.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
