Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Kyle Busch knows the road to a title can start at Indy

Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004 | 9:38 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.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Brian Vickers set a pretty good example last season and Kyle Busch is attempting to follow it.

Vickers, who won last year's Busch race at Indianapolis Raceway Park, came back from a 99-point deficit with 12 races remaining to win the 2003 NASCAR Busch Series championship in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Following his victory Saturday night at IRP, Busch trails series leader Martin Truex Jr. by 117 points with 12 races left on the schedule.

"It would be great to be able to follow in (Vickers') footsteps," said Busch, a Las Vegas native who inherited the No. 5 Chevrolet when Vickers made the move to the Nextel Cup Series. "He was just this many points back last year coming out of this race so I think we're going to have a great shot to be able to chase (Truex) down."

Busch matched Truex's season victory total of four with his win Saturday and said it is not too early to start counting points.

"You don't want to think about them, but you'll definitely take them as you can get them," he said. "These past two months we haven't been able to get them the way we need to so it's definitely good to be able to come back (with a win) and hopefully it'll propel us on to the rest of the year like it did Brian Vickers."

Busch trailed Truex by only 10 points six races ago but saw that deficit grow to 142 points entering Saturday night's race. Busch was able to trim 25 points off the lead with the victory and Truex's fourth-place finish at IRP. Jason Leffler, who finished third, is third in the series standings, 257 points behind Busch.

"All we can do is win races -- and that's what we did (Saturday night)," Busch said. "We've just got to make sure we're in front of (the other championship contenders) every week and they're staring at our tail lights instead of the other way around."

Kingsland, a 19-year-old Eldorado High graduate, was to have attempted to qualify for Friday night's truck race at IRP in the No. 55 Langers Juice Products Dodge fielded by DCCS Motorsports. Kingsland never even got on the racetrack for practice because of an engine problem.

According to team co-owner David Cushner, the engine the team received from its engine builder arrived missing three rocker arms, which prohibited the team from even starting the truck. Unable to get the missing parts from the engine builder, Cushner said his crew finally got some help from the Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team but the rocker arms would not fit.

"We got up here, took the valve covers off ... and there were three rocker arms missing off the motor -- not even in the motor," Cushner, a first-time team owner, said. "Orleans (Racing) came through for us and gave us three, but they were just (a little bit) off.

"There was no problem with the truck. There was no problem with the motor -- it was just lacking parts. It all fell apart and I take full responsibility ... but I'm not a mechanic."

Last year, Kingsland attempted to qualify for the race at IRP with another team, but the truck was not prepared when it showed up to the track. Kingsland was only able to turn 14 laps in practice and narrowly missed qualifying for the 36-truck field.

Cushner said Kingsland would attempt to qualify the truck for the Aug. 25 race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"This is getting ridiculous -- this is twice in a row," Kingsland said. "(DCCS) promised me Bristol, so we'll give them one more shot.

"I'm really disappointed because I got my hopes up and we were never even on the track. It's just bad luck, I guess -- hopefully, the third time's the charm."

Fans can purchase general admission tickets for $10 each through the race team or receive a free ticket with the purchase of $30 worth of Steve Park merchandise through racedayoutfitters.com.

To order tickets from the team via phone, call 702-644-7223 or send a check or money order for $10 per ticket to: Orleans Racing, 6975 Speedway Blvd. D-104, Las Vegas, NV 89115.