NASCAR-BGN: McLaughlin Heads to Texas Roundup

25 March 1999

CHARLOTTE, NC -- Don't let Mike "Magic Shoes" McLaughlin's 6th place standing in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Point Standings fool you. He's not happy about being in 6th and he is looking to Texas Motor Speedway to change that. McLaughlin will enter the third running of the Coca-Cola 300 this Saturday with one goal in mind, to round up a Victory and regain some of the momentum he has lost the last couple of weeks. If past results are any indication, McLaughlin will be one of the favorites to land in Victory Lane.

In the inaugural Coca-Cola 300, McLaughlin qualified 11th and finished 5th after leading 67 laps in the race. Last season, McLaughlin recovered from a practice accident and drove a backup car to an 11th place finish. McLaughlin also claimed the checkered flag last fall at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a track similar to Texas Motor Speedway.

"I really like these high-banked superspeedways," McLaughlin said. "Over the past couple of years our race team has had a lot of success at the larger, faster tracks, hopefully that will continue this weekend. A win in Texas would really give our race team a huge boost right now as we head to some of the short tracks in the next few weeks."

Watch out for "Magic Shoes" this weekend in Texas, he is a man on a mission, determined to put the Goulds Pumps Chevrolet back in Victory Lane.

PIT NOTES

Goulds Pumps will host 500 customers in the hospitality village on Saturday morning. This will be their largest event in 4 years of hosting hospitality events. To date, Goulds Pumps has entertained nearly 1,500 customers at 4 hospitality events in 1999.

Part-time crewmember Rich Vreeland will celebrate a birthday on Friday. When he isn't fueling the #34 Goulds Pumps Chevrolet, Vreeland owns and runs Vreeland's Harley Davidson in Bloomsburg, PA.

Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.