There were SO MANY reasons why last weekend’s NASCAR events at Naval Base Coronado were so special – between celebrations of the Navy and America’s 250th birthday, the return of NASCAR to Southern California (in San Diego), and the overall wow-factor of racing on an active Navy base.

With legitimate questions about whether NASCAR’s visit to Naval Base Coronado would be one-and-done, Brendan Gaughan absolutely had to be there. So, the Las Vegas, Nevada-native came out of retirement, jumping behind the wheel of a race car for the first time in six years, and a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series vehicle for the first time in 13.

Gaughan reunited with Bill McAnally, his long-time friend, former team owner, and the guy whom he lovingly referred to as one half of a “match made in hell,” to return to the NASCAR Truck Series, piloting the No. 20 South Point Chevrolet Silverado RST, a fifth entry for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.

Everything that unfolded during Friday’s one-day show at Naval Base Coronado – from practice, to qualifying, to the checkered flag – required a display of Navy-like resilience for the 48-year-old driver, who, against all odds, managed to drive his South Point-sponsored machine to a 16th-place finish.

“What I love is that you don’t stop, just because you’re mad about it, just cause – a lot of times, I’ve seen guys quit on drivers, and drivers quit on guys,” Gaughan said post-race. “I never did, they didn’t on me, and they didn’t know me, and I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of what McAnally [Hilgemann Racing] has going on.”

Getting up to speed was a challenge for Gaughan, and how could it not be. Not only had it been more than a decade since the last time the Las Vegas-native had run in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, but the 16-turn, 3.4-mile street course had been a topic of conversation in the weeks leading up to the race, with one NASCAR Cup Series driver saying it’d likely be the hardest road course event that anybody in the garage would run.

The handling was way off on the No. 20 Chevrolet Silverado when practice began on Friday, but between several on-track incidents, what was originally scheduled to be 80 minutes of practice got cut down dramatically. When it was time to qualify, Gaughan had a whopping 11 laps around the Naval Base Coronado course. During his run, the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing driver made a very common mistake, overshooting Turn 16 and slamming into the wall on the driver’s left.

It took crew chief Dewey Townsend IV and the entire McAnally-Hilgemann Racing crew every available moment to get the No. 20 on the grid to take the green flag, and when they did, and the race began, Gaughan noticed there was something mechanically wrong with the vehicle – reporting a massive vibration that he couldn’t quite locate. The issue was originally diagnosed as a broken sway bar, but after replacing it, and a second sway bar breaking, Gaughan said that something was likely broken in the front-end of the vehicle from that qualifying crash.

“We broke the sway bar right off the start from the qualifying crash,” Gaughan confirmed. “So, it was broken right from Lap 1. That kind of made for a very, very long day. They put another one on, it broke right away, so we had something wrong in the front-end from that crash, so to be able to come home with a top-20, finish the day, finish it solid. You know, I’ll take it.”

When McAnally-Hilgemann Racing went to replace the sway bar, the first time, Gaughan went a lap down, but quickly got it back due to a rash of late-race cautions and attrition. Being 22nd at the start of NASCAR Overtime, the No. 20 took advantage of that chaos to get a solid finish, all things considered.

Now, despite what can only be described (even with the solid finish) as a dismal return to the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, Gaughan was able to keep his typical, usually self-deprecating sense of humor intact when speaking to the media post-race.

“I think everybody was right saying that I should have stayed retired because I should have stayed retired,” Gaughan joked after the race. “But I had the best time racing in Coronado, and I’m really glad I did it.”

“Racing isn’t always about being fast all day long. Sometimes, it’s about getting a group of guys who believe in a driver, and these guys, like I said, none of these guys [quit]. Shit, I think some of these guys weren’t even alive when I raced my first race with McAnally,” he continued. “Just had a bunch of guys who had a 50-year-old guy in the seat going ‘Oh, this is going to be terrible’. I know they were sitting there going ‘he’s going to fall out of the seat’ or he’s going to do this, that, or the other, and at the start of the race, I’m sure they were all very unhappy, but they kept searching for the problem, found the problem, and to not quit until the end… and like I said, what he did to make it driveable is absolutely stupid, and I love stupid, stupid is one of my favorite things, and that’s so cool and so fun and that’s one of the few things I miss.”

With 67 NASCAR Cup Series, 219 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and 218 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, Brendan Gaughan’s NASCAR National Series starts total, at least for the time being, is going to come to a rest at 504.

“So, Bill [McAnally], thanks for letting me destroy your stuff one more time and… don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

What exactly does that mean, though, Brendan?

“That means I’m… stick a fork in it.”

Photos: McAnally-Hilgemann Racing