Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 10:09 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Las Vegas native Kyle Busch will attempt to qualify for his first NASCAR Winston Cup race next weekend in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports officials announced Thursday.
Busch, 18, will drive the No. 60 Chevrolet with sponsorship from ditech.com, his sponsor in NASCAR Busch and ARCA series races this season.
"It's important for me to spend more time in the seat," Busch said. "This is an opportunity to make some laps with the best drivers in the world and build toward the 2004 Busch Series season. It will be, first and foremost, a learning experience."
Busch has driven in six Busch Series races this season and will make his seventh and final start in that series Saturday at North Carolina Speedway.
In six starts, Busch has two second-place finishes. He also has two victories and two poles in seven ARCA starts.
Next season, Busch -- the younger brother of Winston Cup regular Kurt Busch -- will run for Rookie of the Year honors in the Busch Series with Hendrick Motorsports.
"This is an excellent way for Kyle to gain some additional experience," team owner Rick Hendrick said.
"Our goal is for him to spend as much time behind the wheel as possible before next season and this is a great way to accomplish that."
Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, holds the points lead going into the season finale but three drivers are within 39 points of Gaughan. Ted Musgrave trails Gaughan by 26 points, Travis Kvapil is 34 points back and Dennis Setzer is 39 points off the pace.
And all four of the championship-contending teams are loading up for the 134-lap shootout.
Gaughan and his Orleans Racing team are adding Scott Lynch, the reigning NASCAR Winston West Champion, to form a two-truck entry for the Ford 200; Ultra Motorsports, which fields trucks for Musgrave and Andy Houston, is expected to enter three additional trucks for the season finale; and team owner Steve Coulter will run three-time NCTS champion Jack Sprague as a teammate to Kvapil.
That means the four teams contending for the championship could field a quarter of the 36-truck field for Friday's race. But that doesn't bother Gaughan, who can clinch the title by finishing fourth or better in the race.
"I'd rather be the leader and know that they not only have to beat your team but they also have to root for a little bad luck from others," Gaughan said. "There's only one strategy for us: win.
"I wouldn't call it a free-for-all but it's going to be one heck of a battle."
Gaughan this year became the first driver in any series to win four consecutive races at Texas Motor Speedway.
Gaughan will be honored during induction ceremonies for A.J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford -- the first two inductees into the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame, which will be located at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Tracy, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser were the top three vote getters in the seasonlong balloting.
Tracy will appear on CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman tonight as part of the customary CART champion's victory tour.
According to the Reuters News Agency, ISC wants the forest fires in San Bernardino County, Calif., that led to the race being canceled, declared a "force majeure." ISC contended that such a declaration, under the terms of its contract with CART, would entitle the track to recover fees of an estimated $2.5 million, less a "mutually agreed upon amount for reasonable expenses incurred by CART in preparation for the race."
Holigan Racing plans to compete in 15 Busch Series and the full 16-event AMA Supercross season and 12-race AMA Outdoor Nationals. The teams will be featured each week in "The Reality of Speed," a 52-week reality show debuting on the Spike TV network beginning Saturday, Jan. 3.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular David Starr will drive the Busch Series car, which will be sponsored by Enzyte, a tablet for natural male enhancement. Starr also will continue driving in the NCTS.
Holigan is an expert homebuilder and contractor with his own nationally syndicated television series. Holigan is in the process of purchasing the assets of TKO Motorsports, a Truck Series team based in Fort Worth, and will run the NASCAR and AMA teams from his new facility in Dallas.
The second annual Desert NHRA Sport Compact Nationals are scheduled for July 17-18 at The Strip.
Bandimere Speedway near Denver, Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis and California Dragway in Fontana have been added to the schedule in 2004.
Bekki Freeman of Las Vegas, a three-time Baja 1000 class champion, has entered an all-women team in the special Baja Challenge class for identically equipped, Porsche-powered Baja touring cars.
Other high-profile drivers from other racing series who are expected to compete in the endurance race include NASCAR's Brendan Gaughan and Robby Gordon, CART's Jimmy Vasser and Michel Jourdain Jr., rally racer Rod Millen and former open-wheel stars Mike and Robbie Groff, Stefan Johansson and Johnny Unser.
Reigning SCORE Protruck class champion Alan Pflueger of Honolulu drew the first starting position for the race and will make his debut in the featured Trophy Truck class. Gordon, who finished third in last year's 1000, will start 20th and last in Trophy Truck.
The 765-mile course for the 36th annual off-road race will start and finish in the Mexican port city of Ensenada, 60 miles south of San Diego. Vehicles will leave the starting line every seconds and will have a 32-hour time limit to finish the elapsed-time race.
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