Busch leads the pack out West

Monday, Feb. 24, 2003 | 9:58 a.m.

The good ol' boys in their 700-horsepower toys return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend for the sixth running of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race.

But it will be a Yankee, 24-year-old Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who leads them into the third round of the 36-race circuit.

On the strength of back-to-back second-place finishes to open the season, Busch returns to his hometown track leading the series points standings and looking to find Victory Lane in his third attempt at the 1.5-mile speedway. Although he has had good runs at LVMS in his previous two races, Busch said he is disappointed with his finishes of 11th in 2001 and 20th last year.

"We've run well here but we haven't had the results," said Busch, who was headed for a top-five finish here last year before mechanical problems late in the race relegated him to 20th place. "I haven't finished in the top 10 here yet so that's obviously the first goal but we've surely run in the top five both times we've been here."

The Durango High graduate comes into Las Vegas as the hottest driver on the Winston Cup circuit with three wins, two runner-up finishes and seven top-six finishes in his past seven races dating to his breakthrough 2002 season.

Busch opened the season by finishing second to Michael Waltrip in the rain-shortened Daytona 500 and traded the lead with Dale Jarrett four times in the final 11 laps Sunday before taking second at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

"We're just fortunate enough to finish second in both of these races," Busch said. "This one is much more difficult to swallow than the (Daytona) race. We had a great run today and I'm real upset that we didn't win.

"I would have loved to have gotten off to victory lane so early in the year but finishing second isn't too bad. That gathered up a lot of points for us and, lo and behold, we're the points leader so we'll just roll into Vegas. You need a whole different type of car there and a whole different type of frame of mind. The confidence is there and we'll just continue rolling."

In addition to having momentum on his side, Busch drives for a team -- Roush Racing -- that has a superb track record in Las Vegas. Mark Martin won the inaugural race here in 1998 and Jeff Burton posted back-to-back victories at LVMS in 1999 and 2000. Roush Racing has had at least two cars place in the top 10 in each Winston Cup race at LVMS except for the 2001 race.

After Roush Racing dominated the first three Las Vegas Winston Cup races, Jeff Gordon won the 2001 event and Sterling Marlin scored a controversial win here last year after avoiding a potentially costly penalty for exceeding the speed limit on pit road midway through the race.

Marlin was leading last year's race on lap 120 when he slowed on the track to enter the pits and his No. 40 Dodge was bumped from behind by Jerry Nadeau. Marlin locked his brakes and slid sideways onto pit road. NASCAR's race control radioed to officials in the pits to hold Marlin for a 15-second penalty but Marlin left the pits before the officials could notify his team.

It was later determined that the NASCAR officials on pit road never heard the instruction to hold Marlin for the penalty and NASCAR elected not to bring Marlin back in for what would have been a more severe stop-and-go penalty. Marlin eventually worked himself into position to earn his first of two victories in 2002.

While Busch has obvious sentimental reasons for looking forward to this weekend's race, virtually every driver on the circuit enjoys the annual visit to Las Vegas.

"I love Las Vegas," veteran driver Jimmy Spencer said. "I've won in the Busch series out here (in 1998) -- but it isn't that. I think that this has quickly become one of the tracks that's very easy to bring your sponsors to, for the fans to come out. We don't have a shortage of hotel rooms; we don't have a shortage of things for the people to do away from the track.

"I just wish it was four or five days because I think there's a lot of things that they try to squeeze in Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I really wish Vegas had two dates -- not just because of the racetrack itself, but I think because of the entertainment value. It makes a whole lot more sense to be here twice than, say, Rockingham or Martinsville or Darlington. Let's face it, if a fan comes to Las Vegas and he goes to Darlington, where's he going to come back to?"

The Las Vegas Winston Cup race has become an overwhelming hit with fans, as well. Sunday's event is expected to draw a record crowd of nearly 140,000, making it the largest single-day sporting event west of Dallas, Texas. Shortly after Sunday's race, LVMS officials plan to add approximately 10,000 permanent grandstand seats to the existing 117,000 seats.

In addition to Sunday's Winston Cup race, LVMS will host the Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday, World of Outlaws shows Friday and Saturday night at the half-mile dirt track and Super Late Models, IMCA Modifieds and Legends Cars at the 3/8-mile paved Bullring on Thursday night.

Qualifying for Saturday's Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race and Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Winston Cup race will be held Friday at 1:30 p.m. and 3:05 p.m., respectively.

The 200-lap Sam's Town 300 will start at 1 p.m. Saturday and the 267-lap UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 will begin Sunday at noon.