By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In 2017, while running full-time in the Xfinity Series for Richard Childress Racing, Brendan Gaughan began a new chapter in his career on Sundays.
Well, not every Sunday.
When the 2017 Daytona 500 took the green flag, Gaughan started his first 500 since 2004 and his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race since 2015. The start marked the beginning of a new relationship with Beard Motorsports, a team bent on competing in all four restrictor plate races (Daytona and Talladega) every season.
And in both 2017 and 2018, the team made their way into the Great American Race, finishing 11th and 28th, respectively.
In 2019, the 43-year-old has his work cut out in the Gander RV Duel, needing to race his way in to the Sunday’s starting field.
“We know what our job is, and we’ll stay focused on that,” Gaughan said Wednesday during Daytona 500 Media Day. “We’re a race within a race, we don’t need to go out and win the Duel, set the world on fire, show everyone we’re here. We need to make sure we’re in the show for the Daytona 500. That’s our goal and our job.”
Coming back for his third year with Beard and their Chevrolet, veteran Gaughan has endless gratitude to
“It got me out of the office for two weeks,” he joked. “My partner is mad saying I’m taking a vacation for two weeks. I’m like, ‘Woah, woah! I’m risking my life to make sure I can afford his livelihood.’
“I’m telling you… being with the Beard family, this is such a unique opportunity that doesn’t happen in NASCAR anymore. The way this team is, the owners they have, it hasn’t happened in decades probably. It’s so much fun to be a part of it.”
Finishing seventh at Daytona in July 2017, Gaughan has an ECR motor underneath his No. 62, giving him a shot at making the race Sunday.
“I have to remind them I have an ECR motor, a good Chevrolet,” he said. “Remind them we’re going to be there — the last two years we’ve been at the end of most of the races.”
This offseason was packed with improvements for Beard Motorsports, with the team acquiring a second car for the first time in their short history.
“I’ve driven for some great owners — Roger Penske is still a God in my eyes,” he said. “I’m having more fun driving for Mark Beard than I did Roger Penske. I’m having more fun now than I did when I owned my own team
“Mrs. Beard asked saying she wanted to sign me to a 10-year contract. I looked at her and said, ‘Listen, let’s just work on one year at a time. I don’t know how many years I’ll keep doing it.'”
Though he may not look to nail down a 10-year plan, Gaughan worked to make their team look like a “big-time” Cup team, all to pay back team owner Mark Beard.
“This offseason, we looked at the things that can make the Beard family feel like a Cup team,” he said. “Our trailer has never had a decal on it. It’s always been a plain white wrapper. This offseason, I had RCR graphics put Beard Oil Distributing on the side of it, their sponsors, teams, their stuff. We never had the pit box with monitors, timing and scoring on it. We put TV monitors so he could watch his own pit box. We decaled it up.
“Everyone else just expects that. No matter where you go, everyone has it: Millions of cars, spare pit boxes, spare parts. These guys are old throwbacks, man, we don’t have those things.”
The partnership between Gaughan and the Beard family has given Daytona Speedweeks another underdog story to watch in 2019.
“It’s fantastic when the