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Brendan Gaughan has not made a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start since 2015, but the veteran racer is attempting to qualify for the 2017 Daytona 500 (Feb. 26 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Gaughan told the newspaper that he will be driving the car Michael McDowell (the No. 59 for Leavine Family Racing) piloted to a 15th-place finish in last year's race with Mark Beard as the car owner. Beard made two starts in what is now the NASCAR XFINITY Series in the 1980s and has been a car owner in both the XFINITY Series and ARCA Racing Series.
"They bought the old Leavine car, they've hired ECR to do motors -- real racing motors -- and they asked if I would be interested," Gaughan said. "So it's got Richard Childress motors, and I'm going to have a Richard Childress pit crew -- my guys -- and so we're going to the Daytona 500 and see if we can qualify."
Gaughan will be driving for a team that does not have a charter, meaning he will have to qualify his way into the "Great American Race" via qualifying speeds and/or the Can-Am Duel races. Fellow NASCAR XFINITY Series competitor Elliott Sadler will be driving an open entry for Tommy Baldwin Racing in attempt to make the race as well.
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Should the 41-year-old Gaughan make the race, it will be his second start in the sport's season-opening event. He finished 19th in the 2004 edition of the race.
Gaughan is set to compete full time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2017. The campaign will mark his fourth straight season in the No. 62 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. Last year, he posted a career-best 16 top 10s in the series.