No one should stay too comfy, thought. Only 32 points separate places 9 – 15.
Another up-and-comer is on the docket at Nashville. USAC and ARCA star Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will make his NASCAR national series debut for Roush Fenway Racing while Tim Andrews, son of long-time NASCAR crew chief Paul Andrews (who will oversee his son’s car at Nashville) will attempt to make his series debut for Rick Ware Racing.

Gaughan will be making his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He has raced 10 times there in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, including a win from the pole in 2003. But that was his one shining moment to date; his average finish is 22.1 in his other nine races.

Kyle Busch leads the series standings after two races and won last week at Auto Club Speedway, while Gaughan finished ninth at ACS, is eighth in the rankings and leads the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

High-Stakes Finishes Common At LVMS
Thrilling finishes have been the norm in the Sam’s Town 300 over the last few years. In four of the last five races, the average margin of victory has been a half second or less and includes the closest MOV at the track – .119 second in 2004 when Kevin Harvick edged Kasey Kahne. Others are:

2008: Mark Martin holds off Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer in a green-white-checkered restart by .586 seconds.
2007: After near constant frontstretch contact on the final lap, Burton saved it to win by .101 seconds while Busch spun across the finish line in second.
2006: Kasey Kahne managed to escape from Matt Kenseth and Harvick on a green-white-checkered restart to win by .316 second.
2005: Martin overtook David Stremme with eight laps to go and ended up besting Harvick to win by 1.4 seconds.

What Does A Guy Have To Do?
Talk about unfinished business. Brad Keselowski’s dates back a year at Vegas and thus far has become a battle cry to start the 2009 season.

He was strong at Daytona, leading six laps and running in the top five before a cut tire on Lap 110 took him out of contention. His bad California karma continued when his night was finished after getting caught in a Lap 96 incident. He was running seventh at the time.

Now he comes to Las Vegas where last year he was challenging Carl Edwards for his first career victory with four laps to go. But Mark Martin – on fresh tires – tapped Edwards who collected Keselowski. Edwards and Keselowski spun out of contention while Martin apologetically took the win.

The good news for Keselowski – Martin isn’t in this race. The bad news? His JR Motorsports boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr. – will be in the No. 5 car that won last year.

Gaughan, Wallace Solid Early For RWR
Rusty Wallace Racing is off to a strong start thanks to the combined efforts of teammates Brendan Gaughan and Steve Wallace. Gaughan, in his first year with RWR, has gained his ninth-place standing in the points with a 15th-place finish at Daytona and his first series top-10 last week at California.

Wallace bounced back nicely after being knocked out of the season-opener due to an accident triggered by Jason Leffler. He finished 10th at ACS, his first career top-10 finish at a track (other than a road course) more than 1.5 miles.

Enter Speed, Exit Logano
Scott Speed will make his NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Las Vegas. Michael Waltrip has run in the No. 99 Toyota for the first two races of the season. On the flip side, Joey Logano, who rebounded from a 20th-place finish at Daytona to claim third at ACS, will turn the No. 20 Toyota over to Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas. Logano, Hamlin and Brad Coleman will share the No. 20 ride this year.

MOORESVILLE, NC—Officials of Rusty Wallace Racing, LLC (RWR) announced that former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year, Brendan Gaughan, will pilot the team’s No. 62 Chevrolet in a full-season bid for 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors. Gaughan assumes the ride—formerly the No. 64—driven by David Stremme and Max Papis to a top-ten finish in the 2008 standings.

The car number change—from No. 64 to No. 62—further establishes Rusty Wallace Racing’s family-owned heritage. The No. 62 was chosen in honor of Gaughan’s family racing background, which includes eight Truck Series wins while driving vehicles fielded by his family-owned No. 62 Orleans Racing team.

Stated Gaughan, “It’s going to be very exciting for me to drive the No. 62 again. That number has a lot of meaning to my family that not many people know about. My big brother John’s football number was 62 and my two big brothers have always been my heroes in life.

-Listen to Kerry and Brendan’s Interview – Part 1

-Listen to Kerry and Brendan’s Interview – Part 2

“My father has always been into numbers as well; when we first came up with the number back in 2001, he loved to remind me that his lucky number has always been eight and that “six plus two equals eight;” he would always remind me as if I couldn’t figure that out!

“I also feel that the number is a tribute to Rusty. With all of his years running the No. 2 Miller Lite car, our replacing the four with a two—in the same style as his old number—makes it this an even bigger honor for me.”

Further, the team announced that Las Vegas-based South Point Hotel and Spa will serve as primary sponsor of Gaughan’s No. 62 team for a number for races in 2009. RWR plans to announce the complete sponsor lineup for the No. 62 in the coming weeks.

Noted RWR team owner Rusty Wallace, “I’ve known Brendan and his family for quite some time now and they’re all absolutely first-class people. Brendan has shown that he has the talent to get the job done; I could see that back in 2004 when we were teammates at Penske. He’s a more mature and focused driver now than he’s ever been and we’re really looking forward to having him as a part of our team in 2009.

“I also just can’t say enough about Michael Gaughan and everyone at South Point Hotel and Spa. Mr. Gaughan is a first-class individual and he has a phenomenal group of people around him. Everyone at RWR is thrilled about this new partnership and we can’t wait to get to Daytona. I feel like our team’s potential grew by leaps and bounds last year; we really think that 2009 is going to be a great year for both of our teams.”

While the driver-owner dynamic is new, Gaughan’s move to RWR is not his first experience with Rusty Wallace. Gaughan was teammate to Wallace and the No. 2 team at Penske Racing in 2004, when Gaughan piloted Penske’s No. 77 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Said Brendan, “In 2004, I had one of the greatest opportunities of my life, to race for Kodak and the Penske-Jasper team. While there, I had the good fortune to be a teammate to one of my racing heroes, Rusty Wallace. Although we struggled, Rusty was always there trying to help our No. 77 team. Whether it was allowing me to drive his No. 2 Miller Lite car in our first test together at Rockingham, or his testing my No. 77 car at Indianapolis, he was always there trying to help us improve.”

In making his move to RWR and its No. 62 Chevrolet, Gaughan leaves his 2008 Truck Series seat with Circle Bar Racing and its No. 10 team.

Stated Gaughan, “It was an honor finally to meet Mr. Mitchell and be invited into his extended family. I will never forget what he did for my family and me at a very difficult time last year. I made a promise to Rick Crawford and Lisa Mitchell at the beginning of last year that I would not drive for another Truck Series team unless Circle Bar Racing wanted to scale back to one truck.

“With that said, I also expressed that I still had a desire to move up in series. Racing with Rick was a great time and had it not been for the opportunity with RWR, I was really looking forward to continuing in my pursuit of victories for Circle Bar Racing.”

In addition to its driver and sponsor announcements, RWR also announced several other key personnel moves:

• Brian Berry, Gaughan’s long-time truck series crew chief, will accompany Gaughan in his move and head the No. 62 team in 2009.

• Former No. 64 crew chief, Dale Ferguson, will move to the team’s No. 66 entry and third-generation driver Steve Wallace, for 2009. Ferguson led RWR’s No. 64 team and driver David Stremme, to 16 top-ten finishes in 2008, en route to a top-ten finish in the final owners’ standings.

• Former No. 66 car chief, Shane Huffman, has returned to the team after a brief hiatus and will serve as car chief for Gaughan and the No. 62 team in 2009.