Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: It’s Bliss-ful: Mike surprised he’s leading

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2002 | 11 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Schedule

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Winston West The Orleans 150 At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Friday

4 p.m. Spectator gates open (free admission)

4-6 p.m. Winston West practice

7-8 p.m. Driver autograph session (ESPN Zone at New York New York hotel-casino)

Saturday

Noon Spectator gates open

Noon-1 p.m. NCTS Practice

1:15 p.m. Winston West qualifying

2-3 p.m. NCTS Practice

4 p.m. NCTS qualifying

5:45-6:45 p.m. NCTS final practice

7 p.m. Winston West driver introductions

7:30 p.m. Winston West The Orleans 150 race (100 Laps)

Sunday

Noon Spectator gates open

1:30 p.m. NCTS driver introductions

2 p.m. NCTS Las Vegas 350 race (146 Laps)

Editor's note: The Sun's weekly drag racing notebook will return next Thursday.

Mike Bliss doesn't hold anything against anyone who is surprised by the fact he has led the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points standings for the past six races.

In fact, Bliss said he is as surprised as anyone.

"I didn't even think about points going into the year," said Bliss, a five-time winner this season. "I thought if we won one or two races, that would be great.

"I don't know what I really expected (coming into the season) but I didn't think we would be, at this point, leading the points."

Going into Sunday's Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bliss is having a breakout year in his sixth full season in the Truck Series. In addition to five victories, Bliss has nine other top-10 finishes and holds a 55-point lead over Rick Crawford with four races remaining.

The season didn't start out as promising for Bliss, who dropped out of the season-opening race at Daytona with engine problems and was 34th in points after the first week.

He rebounded with three straight top-three finishes before posting his first win of the season at Pikes Peak International Raceway in May.

"I don't know when it turned around but after about the third or fourth race I thought, 'Boy, this is a good team; we've got a chance to win the points here,' " Bliss said. "We were running about fourth in points at the time."

Although Bliss has never been pleased with his results at LVMS -- his best finish in four truck races here was a fifth-place in 1997 -- he said he is looking forward to this weekend's race.

"I've never finished good there but I've raced real good," said Bliss, whose parents have lived in Las Vegas for three years. "But I feel good about it because it's a racetrack kind of like Kansas and Kentucky and we won those two races.

"We're bringing our Kansas truck that has won two or three races, so it likes to win."

Contreras, who pilots the No. 43 Dodge in the NCTS for Petty Enterprises, will drive a full schedule of races for the first and only Hispanic-owned team in NASCAR. A sponsor has yet to be named.

Defending Las Vegas race winner Ted Musgrave is listed at 5-1 to win while Mike Bliss, David Starr and Jason Leffler are 6-1 to win the 146-lap race.