Contenders try to get ‘handle’ on Las Vegas

Friday, March 1, 2002 | 10:08 a.m.

Talk to 10 NASCAR Winston Cup drivers and you'll get 10 different responses to the question "Who is the favorite to win Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?"

Ask the same 10 drivers what it will take to win the race and you'll get pretty much the same answer.

"Handling will determine who wins the race -- it's all about handling," said Ricky Rudd, who holds the Winston Cup qualifying record at LVMS with a lap of 172.563 mph in 2000.

Tony Stewart agreed.

"The corners are tight here," Stewart said. "It's tighter coming off Turn Four and tighter going into Turn One than it is at either Michigan or California -- that's why the handling is so important here.

"Because the corners are tighter, it makes it really important that (the car) rolls through there free -- not tight or loose. It's a real important track in terms of balance."

Sterling Marlin, who finished third last year in Las Vegas, comes to LVMS as the series points leader after an eighth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a runner-up finish last weekend in Rockingham. Like Rudd and Stewart, Marlin knows a good-handling car is the key to striking it rich in Las Vegas.

"It's a handling track, and it always helps to start up front," said Marlin, who qualified eighth here last year. "Maybe we can get lucky at Vegas and win the race. We had a good run last year at Las Vegas. I know (teammate Jimmy) Spencer had a good race out there last year (and) Bill Elliott runs good out there, so maybe we can keep this momentum going for Dodge."

Las Vegas Motor Speedway proved to be Ford's playground the first three years the Winston Cup Series visited the 1.5-mile speedway. Mark Martin took the checkered flag in the inaugural race in 1998 and his Roush Racing teammate, Jeff Burton, won the race in 1999 and the rain-shortened 2000 event.

Jeff Gordon snapped Ford's streak last year, leading 33 of the final 43 laps and beating Dale Jarrett to the checkered flag by a comfortable 1.477 seconds. Gordon, who earned a million-dollar bonus for winning the race, went on to win five more races and his fourth series championship.

"We turned our whole program around here last year and went on to win the championship," Gordon said of his win at LVMS. "'A lot of it had to do with the momentum that came out of (winning) that event."

For the fourth consecutive year, the Las Vegas Winston Cup race has been designated a Winston "No Bull 5" event. In addition to the first-place check of more than $370,000, one of five drivers can earn a million-dollar bonus if he wins the race.

Gordon won't be eligible to win the Winston "No Bull 5" bonus in Las Vegas this year but if either Dale Earnhardt Jr., Stewart, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth or Bobby Hamilton wins the race, they'll pick up an extra $1 million from series sponsor R.J. Reynolds.

Burton has won three "No Bull 5" races since the program's inception in 1998 -- including the 2000 Las Vegas race -- but said he won't approach Sunday's race any differently because of the million-dollar bonus.

"We put in every bit of effort we know how to put in for every race because they all pay the same number of points," Burton said. "There would be something wrong with our program if we tried to step it up just because somebody was paying more money, but it adds a lot of excitement to it."

For Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who finished 11th last year in his first Winston Cup start at LVMS, winning at his hometown track might just be worth more than a million dollars. Busch returns to Las Vegas this weekend in third place in the Winston Cup points race after two races.

"Winning at Daytona is one thing, but I think winning at a race track where you spent 21 years of your life growing up would mean a lot," Busch said. "Not many people are from Las Vegas, so it would be the ultimate win. It's just that thrill of having that connection and being familiar with something."

Busch, who finished 27th in points in his rookie season, is off to a strong start in 2002. He opened the season with a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500 and was 12th last week in Rockingham despite falling off the lead lap early in the race.

Prior to the season, Busch said his goal this year was to finish in the top 15 in points. After two races, the Durango High graduate said a top-10 finish at season's end might not be out of the question.

"I'm the kind of guy that looks at reality and tries to achieve that," Busch said. "When I start to see different and subtle changes and feel that reality is different, then I'll change that objective.

"I think we can better ourselves and I feel we've got that ability to finish somewhere in that sixth-to-15 range. We can go as far up as sixth in points and maybe even top five. Who knows how the breaks are going to go this year?"