Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 9:42 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.
Scott Lynch had been a Las Vegas resident for only a couple of months when he watched Brendan Gaughan feed off a the energy of a partisan crowd and win last year's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When the green flag drops on the Las Vegas 350 truck race next Saturday night at LVMS, Lynch will be driving a second Dodge truck for Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing as a teammate to veteran driver Steve Park. As the only Las Vegas resident in the 36-truck field, Lynch said he hopes he will be the focus of the fan's support this year.
"Las Vegas is kind of like my adopted hometown and to come out here to Las Vegas Motor Speedway is going to be awesome," Lynch said. "I'll be looking forward to -- hopefully -- following in Brendan Gaughan's footsteps; last year, he took home the pole and the victory."
Actually, Lynch said his goals are more modest as he prepares for his third career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start.
"We finished 12th here last year and a realistic goal for us is to finish in the top 10 -- that's what we're really shooting for," said Lynch, who also finished 12th in the No. 61 truck at the season finale last year at Homestead-Miami Speedway. "We qualified 14th here last year so hopefully we can shoot for qualifying in the top 10, as well.
"The competition, with the new manufacturer (Toyota) coming in, is a little bit different this year than it was last year but we're definitely up to the challenge of giving it our best shot before our home crowd. As far as being out here and being able to race, it's really a dream come true for this season."
The same can't be said for his NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series season. After winning three races and capturing the West Series championship last year, Lynch is sixth in points after eight of 13 races and still looking for his first victory of the season.
Lynch was leading the West Series points standings last year when the final race of the season, at California Speedway, was canceled due to the Southern California wildfires. He was declared the series champion.
"I definitely was expecting to win the championship again," Lynch said. "Everybody kind of said it was a fluke last year -- not necessarily a fluke, but for not being able to run the very last race, I kind of caught a little flak over that. I definitely wanted to prove ourselves."
Orleans Racing prepares Lynch's West car and his team felt the effects this year of the rash of changes at Orleans Racing -- which started when Gaughan and crew chief Shane Wilson left the Truck Series team to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series with Penske-Jasper Racing.
"A lot of personnel changes have happened (and) we lost a few key people, but we were able to replace them with some young guys and they're learning as quickly as possible," Lynch said. "It's just going to take them a little time to get some good experience. But the one thing about having youth there, they're so excited to learn and they want to win ... the energy is so high compared to what it was last year.
"I think next year you need to watch for everybody to rebound -- both the truck team and the West team. We're definitely looking forward to get that momentum rolling for the end of this season and keep it rolling."
In addition to driving in next weekend's Truck Series race for Orleans Racing, Lynch is scheduled to drive the No. 59 Harris Trucking Dodge for HT Motorsports in November at Phoenix International Raceway. He also will make two more NASCAR Busch Series starts in Tommy Baldwin's No. 6 Dodge as part of Baldwin's "Hungry Drivers" program.
Four young drivers have been selected to run the car in three races each and the driver with the best overall performance will be considered for a full-time ride in the car next season. Lynch got caught up in an accident in his first Busch Series start, at Richmond International Raceway in May, and finished 39th.
Powell said during a news conference that although nothing is official, he expected the Champ Car World Series to return to the speedway next year as part of a doubleheader with the trucks.
"I was talking with some of the guys from Champ Car ... I've talked to (NCTS director of business operations) Steve O'Donnell at NASCAR -- everybody is very excited to be able to run two major events on one night," Powell said. "We're hopeful that if things run as smoothly as we believe they will, we'll be making an announcement very soon that both these events will be coming back on Saturday night, September the 24th, 2005."
NASCAR already has released its 2005 Truck Series schedule with a Sept. 24 date at LVMS; Champ Car has yet to announce its 2005 schedule.
It is believed a scheduled race in Seoul, South Korea, next month will be canceled and an open date in November will not be filled.
The remaining Champ Car schedule will consist of races in Las Vegas (Sept. 25), Australia (Oct. 24) and Mexico City (Nov. 7).
Roberts listed Gordon at 9-5 to win his fifth Cup championship while Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson is the second favorite at 3-1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is listed at 7-2 to win the 2004 title and Las Vegas native Kurt Busch is 9-1 to win his first Cup championship.
Other drivers in the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" and their odds: Tony Stewart (5-1); Matt Kenseth (6-1); Elliott Sadler (8-1); Mark Martin (9-1); Jeremy Mayfield (12-1); and Ryan Newman (15-1).
Villeneuve has not driven this season after quitting the BAR team prior to the last race of 2003. He is, however, expected to drive the final three races of this season for Renault. Jarno Trulli recently left that team and signed a two-year contract to drive for the Toyota F1 team beginning in 2005.
Villeneuve, who won both the Indianapolis 500 and CART championship in 1995, has 11 wins and 13 poles in his F1 career -- all while driving for Williams from 1996-98.
Busch, who is second in the Busch Series standings, is expected to drive the No. 60 Quality Motorsports Chevrolet as a teammate to Mike Ray, Mike Cofer and Jerry Spilsbury. Ray is leading the SLM division points standings by 16 points over Thane Alderman and 29 points over Cofer going into the final points race of the season.
The last time Busch, a Las Vegas native, competed at The Bullring, he was fined $100 by track officials and placed on probation for the remainder of the 2004 season for his part in a post-race altercation with another driver.
Spectator gates open at 6 p.m., qualifying is scheduled to start at 6:15 and racing will get under way at 7:15.
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