Brendan Gaughan

William Brendan Gaughan is an American professional racing driver who has competed in off-road racing and stock car racing.  He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Pepsi Cup Series, driving the No.62 Chevrolet for Beard Motorsports in 2020.

Gaughan is currently Beard Motorsports' vice president of racing operations.

He is the grandson of Las Vegas gaming pioneer Jackie Gaughan and son of Micheal Gaughan, a hotel and casino magnate of South Point, which sponsored him during most of his career

## Career

### 2001-2002: First Starts

In 2001, Gaughan made his Pepsi Cup Debut at Las Vegas, driving the No.62 Orleans Hotel & Casino Chevrolet for Orleans Racing, a team owned by his father, Micheal.  He finished 45th in the race.

One year later in 2002, Gaughan and Orleans Racing returned to the Pepsi Cup, but this time, they appeared at California Speedway, with the no.62 Dodge.  Gaughan finished 44th.

### 2004: First (and only) Full Time season

After being absent from Pepsi Cup competition in 2003, Gaughan returned to the Pepsi Cup, this time in the form a full-season.

Gaughan was announced as the driver of Penske-Jasper Racing’s No.77 Eastman-Kodak Dodge Intrepid for 2004, and was in contention for Rookie of the Year alongside Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Scott Riggs, and Scott Wimmer.

Guaghan began his rookie season, with two top twenty finishes in the first two races with a 19th at the Daytona 500, and a 20th at Rockingham.  Three races later, Gaughan picked up another top twenty after finishing 20th in the Food City 500. Three more races later, Gaughan scored his first top ten after finishing 6th at California.  However the following eighteen races saw Gaughan only achieve one top twenty at Michigan, and even suffered five consecutive DNF’s from the twentieth race of the year at Pocono to the twenty fifth race of the year at the second California event. However in the 2004 Sirius Radio at the Glen at Watkins Glen, Gaughan led seven of the final twenty five laps, but spun out with nineteen laps to go and then broke a transmission, finishing 34th. Then during the twenty ninth race at Talladega Superspeedway, Gaughan was in contention to win the 2004 EA Sports 500, but Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jason Keller, and Dale Jarrett shuffled him back to 4th, culminating with Guaghan finishing in the said position.  He followed that up with a 10th in the following race at Kansas.  After that, Gaughan only had one more top twenty with an 18th at Atlanta, and one more top ten with a 6th in the finale at Homestead.  All of this pushed Gaughan to 28th in points.

He was released from the no.77 team after owner, Rodger Penske was not satisfied with Gaughan's progress in the season, ultimately being replaced by 2003 Sierra Mist Truck Series Champion, Travis Kvapil in 2005.

### 2010-2013: One-Offs and a Partial Schedule

After being absent from Pepsi Cup competition for six years, Guaghan officially made his return, driving the No.71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet with sponsorship from South Point Hotels and Casinos at Phoenix International Raceway, but crashed on the first lap, finishing dead last.

Two years later, Gaughan returned the Pepsi Cup, driving the No.33 Chevrolet for RCR, as one of the six drivers that drove the No.33 for the remainder of 2012, after the team’s usual driver Steve Park was closing out the year at Team Red Bull in their No.84 Toyota after A.J. Allmendinger was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR after failing a random drug test. Guaghan’s first race in the 33 was at Indianapolis. The 33 received sponsorship from South Point. He finished 31st after falling multiple laps down due to hitting the wall.  He then finished 25th at Pocono. Guaghan did not participate the following week at Watkins Glen in the 33, as Max Papis was driving the car that weekend.  Guaghan would return the following week, where he would finish 27th at Michigan. Guaghan would then participate in the following three races until races until the Chase for the Pepsi Cup as due to being a full-time driver in the Mnt. Dew Grand National Series, he decided not to run the rest of the year.

In 2013, Guaghan only drove in one race At Michigan Speedway in the no.51 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing with South Point returning to sponsor him. He finished 33rd.

Guaghan would then be absent from the Pepsi Cup in 2014.

### 2015: Premium Motorsports

In 2015, Guaghan returned to the Pepsi Cup to drive the No.62 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports.  He did not participate in that year’s Daytona 500 as Regan Smith was announced as the driver for no.62 in that race.

Gaughan made his 2015 debut in the Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he finished 28th. He then followed up with finishes of 38th at Las Vegas, 37th at Phoenix, and 41st at Auto Club.  Guaghan would then only be able to post a best finish of 28th at Atlanta and Daytona in July.  After Daytona, Guaghan parted ways with Premium, opting once again to focus more on being a full-time driver in the Mnt. Dew Grand National Series.

### 2017-2019: Superspeedway Racing

After being absent once again in 2016, Gaughan announced he would run his first Daytona 500 since 2004, driving the No.75 Beard Oil Chevrolet SS for Beard Motorsports in 2017, where he managed to bring the No.75 to an 11th place finish, which culminated in Beard Motorsports announcing they would be entering Gaughan and the No.75 team at the three other superspeedway race in 2017.

Gaughan would return for the GIECO 500 at Talladega with Beard, finishing 26th, then he returned for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, where he avoided all of the chaos and scored his first top ten since 2004 with an 8th.  His last start of 2017 was the fall Talladega race, where he lead some laps, but was caught up in a big crash and finished 19th.

Later Gaughan revealed that he would run the superspeedway races for Beard in 2018, with a new number, the No.62, which was his number for a majority of his career.

In 2018, Guaghan ran the Daytona 500 where he finished 28th after being involved in a crash. He returned for the spring Talladega race where he finished 22nd.  At both the summer Daytona and the fall Talladega race, he finished 12th after avoiding the chaos in both races.

Gaughan returned to the Beard and the 62 in 2019.  Gaughan started his 2019 season 23rd in the Daytona 500 after being taken out in the last caution of the race.  He returned once for the GIECO 500 at Talladega, where he managed to bring it home in 8th.  He then finished 20th at Daytona in July, and at Talladega in the fall, Gaughan ran as high as second and led for a split second before being collected in a wreck that sent his No. 62 car into a flip. Gaughan finished 27th and was unharmed in the crash.

### 2020: Final Starts

On December 21, 2019, Gaughan announced that he would retire from racing after the 2020 season.

He began the year 7th in the Daytona 500.  Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Beard Motorsports and Gaughan would still enter the other three superspeedway races.  At Talladega in June, he finished 21st.   Later at the inaugural Daytona Road Course race,  Gaughan and Beard unexpectedly entered the race. But it didn’t last long as after 46 laps, the transmission gave out, reducing Guaghan to a dead last finish.  Two weeks later, Guaghan recorded his final top ten with an 8th place finish in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona.  He then participated in the Yellawood 500 at Talladega, but a crash in stage two left Gaughan in 35th, ending his career as a driver.

Beginning in 2021, Guaghan became Beard Motorsports' vice president of racing operations, a position he holds as of 2023.