Gaughan Captures Series Title

For Brendan Gaughan, it was all in the start.

The 25-year-old from Las Vegas merely needed to start the season-ending Home Depot 300 to capture his first title in the NASCAR Winston West Series on Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway.

Gaughan accomplished that and them some.

He led as late as the 179th lap of the 300-lap event and was in seventh place with 15 laps remaining.

Matt Crafton held a narrow lead over John Metcalf with 10 laps left.

It was an impressive performance by Crafton, who was fresh from winning the NASCAR Featherlite Series title in Phoenix last week.

In the spec truck race, which was shortened from 75 to 50 laps, Frank Steiner of Perris fought off a fierce challenge in the final laps to win by a mere .22 of a second over Joe Herold of Poway.

Steiner, who started in the No. 2 position on the front row, took the lead on the 15th lap and didn’t trail again.

Herold, who moved into second midway through the race, made several attempts to overtake Steiner in the final laps and nearly passed him on the final turn. But he was never able to overtake Steiner.

Nathan Wulff of Escondido stayed close to the leaders most of the way and finished third, less than a second behind Steiner.