Monday, July 16, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.
Drivers with ties to Las Vegas made their presence felt from Southern Nevada to Canada in racing action over the weekend.
Alex Tagliani, a Las Vegas resident, earned the first podium finish of his CART career by finishing second in Sunday's Molson Indy in Toronto.
Tagliani, who qualified fifth for the street race, used some pit strategy to post his best finish in his two-year CART career. When race leader Gil de Ferran pitted during a caution on lap 50, Tagliani, who was running second, did likewise.
Although the refueling stop dropped Tagliani to 14th place, he climbed back up the field as several of the drivers ahead of him later headed into the pits.
The combination of 13 laps under yellow and effective fuel conservation kept Tagliani on the track and in contention the rest of the way. He finished second to Michael Andretti.
"It's a team result," Tagliani said. "We have been trying to prove that we're a better team than last year, but we have had a lot of bad luck so far. We just needed to get a good break; it's good that we got it here in Toronto.
"The Player's team did a great job on the first pit stop, and I was running second behind Gil de Ferran for a long time. My team said, 'If Gil is coming into the pits, come in behind him,' and that's what I did. I was saving fuel, and then Michael got past me on his last pit stop. I was trying to pressure him, but the team was telling me, 'Full lean, full lean.'
"The only great shot I would have had at Michael was at the end, and I got into the marbles when the Target car (of Bruno Junqueira) came out of the pits in front of me."
A little further south, in Joliet, Ill., Las Vegas native Kurt Busch posted his fourth top-10 finish of the season when he finished eighth in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
"It seemed like we were off sequence all day long with tires," Busch said. "Track position was vital, but we had a good Ford and that Roush racing engine had good fuel mileage.
"It was really good strategy by all the Roush cars to stick together. I just got bumped out of the groove by (Jimmy) Spencer at the end. I was holding him up a little bit, but -- all in all -- it was a great day."
Fellow rookie Kevin Harvick won the race and maintained his lead over Busch in the Rookie of the Year standings.
"(Harvick) seems to be doing everything right," Busch said. "They had an advantage that nobody else had -- he (had) a great car today. It was wonderful to see a rookie go out there and win like that; hopefully, we'll have our chance later on."
Another Las Vegas native, Brendan Gaughan, finished second in Saturday's NASCAR Winston West race at Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colo. Gaughan, the defending Winston West champion, moved to within three points of series leader Mark Reed with four races remaining on the schedule.
And Saturday night in Las Vegas, 16-year-old Kyle Busch, Kurt's younger brother, notched his fourth NASCAR Late Model win in seven starts at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Busch was the fastest qualifier for the 50-lap race but opted to start at the back of the 22-car field in an attempt to collect a $5,000 bonus offered by Hoosier Tires. Busch steadily moved through the field until he took the lead for good on lap 35.
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