Brendan Gaughan (Ronda Greer Photo)

Coming off a wildly successful 2003 season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Brendan Gaughan had the world right where he wanted it heading into 2004. A ride with the Penske South Racing Team in the Cup Series meant Gaughan would be racing on Sundays with the elite of the racing world.

But the magic that catapulted Gaughan to six wins and nearly to the series championship on 2003 disappeared the following year. Gaughan's one, and so far only, season racing in the Cup Series was fraught with frustration after frustration. To add to that frustration, much of it was out of his control.

The one bright spot on an otherwise forgettable season was the second race of 2004 at Talladega Superspeedway. Gaughan avoided all of the trouble on the afternoon and found himself in position to win in the closing stages. Even though he didn't cross the finish line first, he did score his only top five of the season with a solid fourth-place finish.

Gaughan never needs a reason to be enthusiastic, but returning to the site of his best career Cup finish only enhances his positive outlook.

"We're excited," Gaughan stated. "The Orleans Racing Team ran really well at Daytona earlier this year, and we have an even better truck ready to go for Talladega than our Daytona truck. We've been to the wind tunnel with it and it has better numbers so we like that direction. And we're going back to where I had my career best Cup finish so I am looking forward to it on that level too."

Gaughan vividly recalls the final laps of that race.

"With three laps to go I had the guts to block Terry Labonte," Gaughan said. "I looked up next and here came Kevin Harvick and I did a quick gut check. I didn't have the guts to block Harvick! But we ended up fourth and it was a great day. I think we can recapture that magic with the No. 77 Dodge there this year."

Even with a couple of Cup races there under his belt, Gaughan is among the many drivers that used to routinely test their Trucks on the 2.66-mile tri-oval in preparation for the season-opener at Daytona.

"We've tested there for years in the Trucks," Gaughan said. "What I've heard since they paved it is that it is really super smooth. Daytona is about handling and Talladega is all about horsepower and we'll have a ton of that Dodge horsepower there to keep us up front all day long."

And staying up front all afternoon is exactly what Gaughan intends on doing.

"We've all seen that strategy about dropping to the back and laying back until the end," Gaughan said, referring to the strategy Bobby Hamilton used to win at Daytona in 2005. "We're going to get our Dodge up front as early as we can and do our best to keep it there. It will be tough to beat the guys like Mark Martin, but even he said it - when you are used to running the Cup cars and that style of racing at Daytona and Talladega it's hard to convert to the style of racing we see in the Trucks. I have some experience with both, and I'm going to use that to my advantage at Talladega."

The John Deere 250 at Talladega Superspeedway is scheduled for 3:15 P.M. on Saturday October 7. SPEED will have live coverage starting with an expanded pre-race show starting at 2:30 P.M. on raceday. Motor Racing Network will have the live broadcast on select radio affiliates nationwide, and TruckSeries.com will have complete event coverage, including practice, qualifying, and race updates online at www.truckseries.com.