Monday, July 26, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.
Kurt Busch and Paul Tracy, two racers with ties to Las Vegas, thrust themselves back into the championship picture in their respective series with victories Sunday in New Hampshire and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Busch, who was dangerously close to falling out of the top 10 in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings, held off Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman and won the Siemens 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon. The victory allowed Busch, a Las Vegas native, to vault three spots into sixth place in points with seven races remaining in the series' "regular season."
Under the Nextel Cup Series' new "Chase for the Championship" format to determine the champion, only the top 10 drivers in points and those within 400 points of the leader after 26 races are eligible to compete for the championship during the final 10 races of the season. The final 10-race shootout begins Sept. 19 at New Hampshire International Speedway.
"I believe that our 'Chase for the Championship' started today," Busch said after securing his second victory of the season and the 10th of his career. "It started with the first Loudon (race) instead of the second Loudon (race) just because of our points position.
"We've got our tests saved up for the latter part of the year ... so we're prepared for the final 10, but now we've got to make sure we can get into it. This is a great cushion to have. We didn't know we'd run this well but this car just has that chemistry with flat tracks and I can't wait to get back to another one."
Busch led twice in the race for 110 laps, including the final 68 laps. Gordon was second and Newman, who led a race-high 187 laps, was third.
It was Busch's first victory since March 28 at Bristol Motor Speedway, although he has remained in the top 10 in points since the second race of the season.
"It was time to go," said Busch, who slipped to ninth in points following a 35th-place finish a week before at Chicagoland Speedway. "We looked at (ninth place) as a position that we didn't necessarily deserve to be in or didn't want to be in. What better place than the track you're going to start the chase for the cup than to get everybody kicked into high gear.
"It was just one circumstance after the next. We had a mechanical issue at Sonoma and then backed it up with a top-five at Daytona. Then we had a guy get a flat tire in front of us at Chicago. It's just the roller coaster that this series provides for a driver to overcome. We're a team that can run strong; we just have to make sure the bad days don't overcome the good days."
Tracy, a Las Vegas resident, also served notice Sunday that he has no intention of giving up his Champ Car World Series title without a fight. Tracy led 81 of 85 laps -- relinquishing the lead only when he pitted -- en route to his second consecutive victory in the Molson Indy Vancouver in his native Canada.
The victory allowed Tracy to close to within 44 points of series leader Sebastien Bourdais after 7 of 16 races. Michel Jourdain Jr. took second and A.J. Allmendinger was third. Bourdais, who was seeking to tie a Champ Car record with a fourth consecutive victory, finished fifth.
"I didn't expect Sebastien to have the kind of day he had, but obviously things didn't go well for him and that's exactly what we need," Tracy said. "So, we're in the middle of it. It's good to get another win in Canada and be back in the points race for the championship."
Also on Sunday, Las Vegas-based Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing finished third in the GT class in the American Le Mans Series race at Portland International Raceway.
Drivers David Murry and Craig Stanton piloted the team's Westward Ho Casino Porsche to its third third-place showing of the season.
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