Toward the end of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday, which was delayed from Sunday due to rain and a lack of lights at the track, there was a giant wreck. That’s the norm. Less normal is the tendency for a car to do a full-on flip, since NASCAR tries its best to keep cars on the ground.
But if you think an unexpected flip over a pack of race cars going roughly 320km/h was enough to scare the driver of the airborne No. 62, Brendan Gaughan, you would be very wrong. Gaughan came out of his required stop at the medical centre ready to rate his stunt like a gymnastics competition, and that he did.
Gaughan, who was laughing to start the interview, called it “one easy, quick flip.” I’m pretty sure — no, I am definitely sure — I’ve been more upset about hitting my shin on the corner of the couch. But this kind of reaction is very Brendan Gaughan, if you’re unfamiliar with him.
Gaughan, who doesn’t race full time in any of NASCAR’s three national touring series anymore but has entered all four “restrictor plate” Cup Series races this year, via Racing Reference, wrecked just after lap 180 of a scheduled 188 at Talladega.
He was up near the front of the field at the time of the flip, since “plate” races at tracks like Daytona International Speedway and Talladega put drivers on a more equal level even if they’re not competing full time.
But Gaughan evidently wasn’t meant to stay up there, and he evidently wasn’t too bothered by it. He ended the interview by saying he’d be back to race in the Daytona 500 in February, hopefully with the same nonchalant attitude and the same luck escaping bad wrecks unharmed.