Gaughan close to Cup deal with PPI

[TonyB]

From That's Racin'

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Brendan Gaughan, a rookie in the Nextel Cup Series last season, is close to finalizing a deal that will allow him to run most - if not all - of the 2005 Cup season in a Chevrolet owned by PPI Motorsports, ThatsRacin.com has learned.
Gaughan, 29, drove for Penske-Jasper Motorsports last season, but an option on his contract was not picked up at the end of the season.

With no Cup ride, he planned an 18-race schedule in the Craftsman Truck Series driving a second entry for his family's Orleans Racing team. His 18 races are all companion events with Cup and would not conflict with a schedule with PPI.

Despite his and his family's truck teams' association with Dodge Motorsports, Gaughan is able to secure a Cup deal with a Chevrolet team because Dodge does not have a comparable Cup ride to offer him, sources said.

Officials with Dodge and PPI Motorsports could not be reached for comment late Monday. Gaughan participated in Monday's final day of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway and was traveling late Monday and unavailable for comment.

Last season in Cup, Gaughan finished 28th in points, with one top-five and four top-10 finishes. In three full-time seasons in Trucks, he had eight wins, 21 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes. He won championships in the NASCAR Grand National, West division (then Winston-West) series in 2000 and 2001.

PPI Motorsports, owned by Cal Wells III, currently fields the No. 32 Chevrolets for driver Bobby Hamilton Jr.

 

[Eagle1]

Cal wants to go with 2 new guys??

Brendon would probably be better off than he was in the 77, but I really don't think that's a strong career move.

Of course I'd love it if he'd stay out of the trucks completely and let Auston Cameron run that second truck full time.

 

[esorlxaw]

it doesn't really look like there IS a good career move for Brendan at this time...crap. PPI, bad idea, trucks part time, not a great idea, but better than PPI, but heck, isn't there a busch ride out there somewhere...I guess his Jimmy Smith bridge was burned on national television and after Hamilton's post race spinout of BG, I'd assume he isn't welcome on the BHR team, so I don't know where he could even go in the truck series besides his own team....

 

[Pandorasbox]

First off there really isnt a 2nd truck team just Brendans dad just expropreated a bunch of Steve Parks equiptment and people then hired a few more and called it a second team so Brenden would not be out of racing . The Cup deal is strictly buying a ride for the companion events to the truck schedule.

Look for a dark and dissmal yr for Brendan splitting one good truck team up into two marginal teams and a last minute rent a ride in Cup has failure written all over it .