Busch out front for IROC

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 | 9:16 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch will start on the front row at Daytona International Speedway this weekend -- but not in Sunday's Daytona 500.

Busch, the reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup champion and a Las Vegas native, drew the outside pole position for Friday night's International Race of Champions season opener. Busch, who won the IROC championship in 2003, will start alongside Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais.

Bourdais, who won the Champ Car race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in September, is competing for the first time in the four-race all-star series.

"I'm very happy to be invited to represent Champ Car in the IROC series," Bourdais said. "It's all new to me and, like everybody, I want to do well. The spotlight is now going to be on me and I don't want to look ridiculous."

Max Papis, the 2004 Grand American Road Racing champion, and Martin Truex Jr., the 2004 NASCAR Busch Series champion, will start on Row 2 while Indianapolis 500 winners Buddy Rice and Helio Castroneves will occupy Row 3.

Rice is making his first start in the IROC series, as well, and said he has used the chance to race against the NASCAR drivers to pick up some tips.

"It's a great honor to be racing with all these champions," the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner said. "I'm on a huge learning curve here, so I've done a lot of running with Kurt Busch and the other NASCAR guys.

"Believe it or not, I've learned some things I can take from these cars to apply to our IndyCar Series car."

Scott Pruett (Grand American Road Racing), Bobby Hamilton (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), Danny Lasoski (World of Outlaws), Matt Kenseth (NASCAR Nextel Cup Series), Mark Martin (NASCAR Nextel Cup Series) and Steve Kinser (World of Outlaws) will round out the starting grid for the first race.

PETTY PLEASED: What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas, Kyle Petty was happy to learn.

Petty, who is running engines supplied by Ray Evernham in his No. 45 Dodge this season, surprised many in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage when he was the fastest of the Dodge drivers during Sunday's qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Petty, who had the 12th-fastest qualifying speed, said he knew after the test earlier this month in Las Vegas that the Evernham engines would provide a big boost in his car's performance.

"We were surprised and impressed and the whole deal with the engine package at Las Vegas," he said. "That was big for us. I'm surprised at what a big step it was from the engine program we had to where we're at now and how big a step that made us take car-wise.

"We thought our cars were pretty good and you step up another level and our cars are pretty good. Whether we can duplicate it or not and whether everybody else is going to be ahead, we don't know. We just need to tweak them a little bit more."

OOPS: Steve Park, who drives the No. 62 Dodge for Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, was involved in a multi-car accident during Thursday's first truck practice session.

Park was not injured in the accident, but his truck sustained serious front-end damage.

"I've been racing here a long time and we're out there just getting drafting practice," Park said. "There's a couple guys I didn't want to draft with and I obviously chose the wrong person to draft with again.

"I'm pretty disappointed; we've got a good Dodge Ram and we just can't even get it to the race. It's just that people need to use their heads out there on the race track."

END QUOTE: NASCAR Nextel Cup Series veteran Ken Schrader, when informed Wednesday that the National Hockey League officially had canceled the 2004-2005 season:

"You know, some of those hockey rinks would make some great Midget tracks."