Gaulding gets some sponsor help
But then he revealed that his team was getting uncomfortably thin on funding and needed to secure more to continue at their current level of success. They got it on Wednesday in the form of an increased commitment from World Wide Safety Consulting.
His team, led by crew chief Patrick Donohue, is up roughly 10 positions from where team owner Bobby Dotter’s teams ran last year. Gaulding is 14th in the championship standings and 60 points behind Brandon Jones (in a Joe Gibbs Racing car) for the final provisional playoff spot.
That’s a testament to Donohue who crew chiefed for Joey Gase at Go Green Racing last season and to Gaulding himself.
"I do feel like a very underrated race car driver," Gaulding told Autoweek on Wednesday. "I have grinded for every opportunity I have. People talk like I come from a million-dollar family or that we must have brand new race cars but that’s not true. We’re just doing the best we can with what we have.
"And yes, I do wonder
what if sometimes when it comes to getting to race a Gibbs car or a JRM car ... But at the end of the day, this sport is a business, even if we're also athletes, but we're only as good as our equipment in this sport.
Unfortunately, and unlike Talladega, he didn’t expect to have such an opportunity. He will not have access to an ECR Engine this weekend due to the advance notice one requires to purchase an engine lease, but Gaulding will do what he has done all season.
He says he is going to drive smart, drive hard and hope circumstances again give him a chance on Saturday.
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