The No. 77 South Point Dodge at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (High Sierra Photo)

There's nothing better than ending the season on a high note and that's exactly what Brendan Gaughan and the South Point Racing team did with a second place finish at Homestead Miami Speedway.

The season finale capped off a long day at the racetrack that started bright and early with the first practice session at 8:30 am. Lonestar was somewhat cranky after the long ride cross-country, and after running 28th fastest on the first time sheet, the crew went to work. Their tender loving care paid off as Lonestar leapt up the chart to 12th overall in the final practice session.

Gaughan's eighth place qualifying effort was his best since mid-September at New Hampshire International Speedway and his expectations were high as he strapped into the driver's seat for the final time in 2006. He wasted no time at all finding his rhythm in the high lane and by Lap 10 the No. 77 Dodge was running in the top five.

The team suffered a temporary setback when a miscue on the left, front during a pit stop under caution put Gaughan back to 11th. But they made up the difference with a two-tire pit stop late in the race that put Gaughan 2nd in the running order on the final restart with less than 35 laps to go.

Gaughan took the lead when the green flag flew and then battled side-by-side with Mark Martin for ten consecutive laps before he was finally forced to surrender the position.

As much as he would have liked the victory, Gaughan was proud of the fact that it took the likes of Roush Racing and a Nextel Cup Champion contender to beat his boys from Las Vegas.

"It was a great race," said Gaughan. "One of the boys made a mistake during a pit stop but he knows it and he's standing right here feeling bad. I love Robert Ewing. He's the man and he came back strong on the last stop."

"Our Dodge was the best it's been all year. We worked our tails off. You definitely know your team is ready to back on top when you can battle Roush Racing and Mark Martin for the victory. I'm so proud of my boys. Tony Liberati worked his tail off to get us here and Bryan Berry is with us now. He did a great job making decisions. It's just fantastic and I've got to say thanks to everybody."

The runner-up finish was the best for Gaughan since he rejoined the Craftsman Truck Series in 2005 and allowed him to finish out the season ranked 15th in the driver point standings.

Brendan Gaughan Quotes:
"If you look at the last five races we've had great race trucks. Tony Liberati worked really hard getting us great race trucks. Then we just had the little things go wrong - the shocks that have an o-ring not seal (at Phoenix) or the spring catching on a perch (at Texas). All these things were just little things but that's what happens. When you get the big things done then you have to fine-tune everything just like in any business and we got to that point."

"Tonight, fortunately, it all came together. We had a Dodge that was capable of winning the race. We ran up front. We ran with Mark Martin and we held him off for several laps. If you can run with the Roush truck and you can run next to Mark Martin driving the Roush truck and hold him off and have a chance to win, then you've definitely cleared that next hurdle of being a top tier team. I think tonight the South Point Dodge and the South Point team definitely cleared that hurdle. We worked our tails off. We're ready to come out next year with guns blazing and really make a run for the championship and kick some people's butts."

"This definitely makes for a better off season. You're not saying, 'Well, we had a great truck but we ended up with a bad run at the end.' This time it all worked out. It's not a moral victory it's a physical victory. We finished in second place right behind Mark Martin and even held him off for a while and got some great TV time out of it."

"We have an aggressive off-season plan. We're going to beef up our engineering. We're going to see what's going to make us go win and pick a manufacturer. Then we're going to come back in 2007 with guns blazing. We're excited about it."

"Homestead kind of owes me. If there's anyplace where I wanted to turn my own personal luck streak around, this is the place to do it. This is where the spiral started. So to come out of here with a strong second and almost a 'W' it feels pretty good. I wish we could have done this in 2003 but we're going to go get 'em in 2007. Next year it will be me on stage and Todd Bodine congratulating me instead of us congratulating him."