Gaughan's first race as married man at new Bristol

There will be two firsts to take place during the O'Reilly 200 on Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, SPEED), the trucks will be the first NASCAR national series to run a race on the new concrete at BMS and Brendan Gaughan will run his first race as a married man.

"I've been very fortunate in my life to have a group of very good friends, and I have added another best friend to that group and that's my new wife, Tatum," Gaughan said. "The funny part to me is the word marriage and the action of a wedding has always been a very frightening experience to me. We definitely know that I was never the guy who was meant for marriage. I mean, everybody asked where my bachelor party was and I said 'No thanks, my life has been a bachelor party for the last 32 years.' I didn't really think I needed one."

By the Numbers

Todd Bodine has finished second in the last two races at Bristol and he hopes to be the first to visit Victory Lane on the new concrete.

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That's right, the Truck Series' consummate bachelor is now one of the married guys. During this past off week in Vail, Colo., Gaughan and his bride officially tied the knot in what Gaughan says was a very special occasion.

"It was an absolutely gorgeous day -- couldn't have asked for anything better," Gaughan said. "I'm happy to have her and excited to put my name on the list of married drivers now. I guess I'm no longer a 'Young Gun' officially."

Another list Gaughan would like to add his name is winner at Bristol Motor Speedway. Although the driver of the No. 77 Chevrolet has seen himself up front, his best finish at the 0.533-mile short track is a fourth back in 2003, bad luck has creped into the last two races. The 2005 race saw Gaughan collected in a crash just 18 laps in and last season he was running second to Mark Martin when a pit road speeding penalty ruined any chances of a top-five finish, ultimately ending up 17th.

But the Truck Series did some testing at the new Bristol in July and Gaughan was pleased with his results. Running more than 300 laps in the test session, Gaughan says his South Point Racing team has plenty of data and they will bring a truck capable of winning.

"All I know is we did a whole lot of laps and I was tired at the end of the day," Gaughan said. "Every time this race team goes to a track to test and we get to verify the engineering data that Chevrolet is giving to us, we end up coming back stellar.

"We were sixth quick on the whole day at Bristol in July. We did 300 plus laps. We did more shocks than I have ever seen us throw at something. We did more adjustments than I have ever seen a race team make. We took full advantage of that test. That's what testing is supposed to be about. I'm glad we got it. I just wish we had more."

Another driver very pleased with his test session in July was Terry Cook. The driver of the No. 59 Toyota was second-fastest in the eight-hour test and the veteran Truck Series driver says this is not the old Bristol track everyone is used to, but it's a better one.

"The track is completely different than it used to be," Cook said. "You'll attack it different, you'll race it different. A lot of the mindset you used to have in preparing to race at Bristol is changed. I think it's going to be a better racing surface and provide the fans a lot of great racing." (Continued)