Gaughan, Starr Texas preview

FORT WORTH-DALLAS (August 29, 2001) - Sports fans cheer for the underdogs, the "little guys" with overwhelming odds in the way of victory. Similar "David and Goliath" stories with Brendan Gaughan and David Starr as the central figures could surface for the Saturday, September 15 Silverado 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Both part-time drivers, Gaughan, driving for TKO Motorsports based in Saginaw, Texas, and Starr, driving for Team Texas Racing out of Justin, Texas, turned out to be two of the dominant drivers in June's O'Reilly 400 at Texas, finishing second and third respectively. Both drivers are looking to fill victory lane in the Silverado 350.

"We've been working hard," said Todd Meyers, crew chief for TKO Motorsports. "We have things that we are sure will help us get one position better than June. We're working on helping Brendan however we can, and we can also do some things ourselves to improve our overall performance. "

Starr is also optimistic for September "We are proud of our finish at  .
Texas in June," said Starr who is racing part-time on the Craftsman    .
Truck Series circuit this year.  "Our pit crew did a great job, they   .
were practicing pit stops on race morning.  Nearly everyone works with .
the Team Texas Driving School but we surely didn't have the pit stop   .
practice that the full-time Truck Series teams had                     .

"We feel really good about our chances of winning the Silverado 350," continued Starr. "Our crew is really pumped up about beating the full-time teams. We know that we can do it."

While their crews race for time against the full-time pit crews, Gaughan and Starr will have to face their own challenges from full-time series drivers including regulars Joe Ruttman, Scott Riggs and Jack Sprague who are battling for the NASCAR Craftsman Series championship. Sprague won the O'Reilly 400 at the speedway in June.

The Silverado 350 will get the green flag at 3:00 p.m. (CDT) on September 15. Tickets are available at the speedway ticket office, by calling (817) 215-8500, online at www.texasmotorspeedway.com and at Ticketmaster locations.

-TMS