Brendan Gaughan to take final stroll around NASCAR track

Partly because of where he has been starting races during the postscript to his NASCAR career, Brendan Gaughan never has been one to look behind.

He’ll begin Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama from 39th and last on the grid.

But because this is the final race of a career spanning 23 seasons — NASCAR adding a 2021 race at Road America, where he won his first Xfinity Series race, won’t be enough to lure him out of retirement a second time, he insists — there might be a beer or two consumed, and a story or two retold, after the checkered flag falls.

The mirthful racer said he was going to hang out with his car owner, Mark Beard, and Beard’s family, military buddies he calls “Pimp” and “Peaches” and his wife and kids in the Talladega campground.

“I didn’t expect to have these last four years,” said Gaughan, 45. “In 2017, I went to all the tracks and said, yep, that’s the last time I’m going to be here. Looked around, tried to be somewhat reminiscent, kind of soaked in the glory. Then I got this gift from the Beards that was never expected.”

That gift was a fast No. 62 Chevrolet that not only extended Gaughan’s Cup Series career but also has enabled him to contend for victories at superspeedways such as the ones at Talladega and Daytona.

It was pointed out that of the two drivers who will be racing at Talladega for the final time Sunday, he might have a better chance to win than seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. The observation momentarily left Gaughan speechless.

But only momentarily.

The record books will show the loquacious veteran from the Southern Nevada desert won eight times in 217 truck series starts; won twice in 219 Xfinity Series starts; and raced in 67 Cup Series races in which he gave drivers with more impressive resumes a good bit of hell.

It was a career well run. He didn’t win a ton of races, but he made a ton of friends. And it bears asking that after the final race is run, which is more important?

“The last week after all the fans started posting old pictures on Twitter and Instagram — I remember 99 percent of ’em,” Gaughan said of 23 years of stopping to pose for a snapshot or sign an autograph when it was optional.

“As much as the nice things these people have been saying, it meant more to me than it did to them.”

Around the horn

■ Let it be said that Brandon Kintzler has the utmost respect for the coronavirus and Major League Baseball’s protocols to keep players from contracting it. The former Palo Verde High star was one of five players for the COVID-19 depleted Miami Marlins who were active for every game during the 60-game season and playoffs.

Early when it appeared the Marlins might not play another game because of COVID-19, Kintzler, 36, was confined to his Philadelphia hotel room for several days, during which he stayed in shape by throwing a baseball into a mattress.

The two-time 40th-round draft choice went 2-3 with a 2.22 ERA and 12 saves during the “regular” season and Friday got the save in the Marlins’ 2-0 wild-card series clinching victory over the Cubs, for whom he had pitched the past two seasons.

■ Speaking of former Palo Verde standouts, Matt Polster’s two-year European soccer stint with Rangers of the Scottish Premiership ended recently when his contract was sold to Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution.

Pollster, 27, appeared in seven games for Rangers but was stuck behind the team’s captain, James Tavernier, in the playing rotation. The defender played in eight games, starting seven, for the Revolution before being kicked in the head against D.C. United on Sept. 27 and suffering a concussion.

Before signing with Rangers, the former Southern Illinois-Edwardsville standout spent three seasons with the Chicago Fire of MLS, appearing in 82 games, in which he scored three goals.

■ Prediction: If UNLV’s plan to allow 6,500 spectators into Allegiant Stadium for the Fremont Cannon game against UNR on Oct. 31 is approved, I wouldn’t be surprised if 6,508 or even 6,512 managed to find their way inside by opening kickoff.

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■ Brendan Gaughan, after walking away from a terrifying flip while racing for the win during last year’s NASCAR playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway:

“Mother, it’s OK. It’s just a flip. It didn’t hurt, I promise.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.