At 41, Brendan Gaughan is just happy to have a ride to race in each week.
Or, as the driver of the No. 62 South Point Chevrolet put it, "I'm just an old guy who likes to race."
Gaughan is in the twilight of his racing career, but he's still competitive in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. And he's got a chance to win the championship with three races left.
Gaughan faces an uphill battle to reach the championship round, sitting seventh in points and essentially needing a win either in Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway or next week at Phoenix International Raceway.
Gaughan joked that he wished the points race "was tighter," since he's 17 points behind the cutoff. But he knows he can still win it all with a strong Texas run.
Gaughan has four truck series wins at the track, but that hasn't translated to Xfinity success. He doesn't have a top-10 finish in nine starts.
But that hasn't dampened Gaughan's belief that this could be the year.
"It's anybody's race," he said. "Eight guys have a chance to win the championship right now."
Leading that charge is veteran Elliott Sadler and budding star Daniel Suarez who are atop the point standings.
Suarez might be the favorite coming into Texas, considering he's posted top-5 finishes in his past five races, including a win at Dover last month.
"I think I work well under pressure, but we'll see in the next few weeks," Suarez said.
