Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006 | 7:40 a.m.
It already was more than 100 degrees on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway infield at 11 a.m. Tuesday, but it felt an awful lot like Christmas morning to Kurt Busch.
Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion and a Las Vegas native, was given the honor of taking the first laps in a race car around the newly banked 1.5-mile speedway. Granted, he made about a dozen laps in a Richard Petty Driving Experience car and not his customary No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, but Busch nonetheless was grinning from ear to ear when he climbed out of the car.
"To have them set aside this time for me is incredible, and I feel honored to be able to drive the first laps here at the new track," Busch said. "This is incredible."
Busch, who watched the speedway rise from the desert north of town in 1996 while he still was racing at the nearby short track, said the $30 million infield improvement project at the speedway would improve the racing experience for drivers and fans alike during the annual NASCAR weekend March 9-11.
Taking it to the bank
Increasing the banking in the track's corners from 12 to 20 degrees will make for better racing, Busch said.
Track owner Bruton Smith's goal "was to have side-by-side, adrenaline-packed racing," he said. "With this new surface, the new banking, you'll get that and the fans will definitely get their money's worth."
Need for speed
Busch estimates that the track record for Cup cars (174.904 mph, set by Kasey Kahne in 2004) will be shattered when the Nextel Cup Series visits Las Vegas in March.
"As a driver, it's banking, it's fast, it's speed - that's all we care about," he said. "When we qualify here, it's going to be beyond a new track record; it's going to be great.
"I wish I could portray what this new style of track means to everybody that's going to sit in the grandstands on Sunday to watch the Cup race."
Doing it right
"Everything about it was done right: the transitions into the corners, the new banking, the speed that it's going to (produce)," Busch said. "I can't wait for the test session the Cup teams are going to have here in January. I just can't wait for the finished product."
Remembering the fans
The track renovation included moving pit road approximately 250 feet closer to the main grandstand.
"With pit road being closer, the fans are going to feel like they're a part of pit stops now," Busch said. "Pit stops are a vital ingredient in many races and the fans are going to feel more in the action because they're going to be right on top of the pit stops."
Safety first
Busch said track officials did not sacrifice driver safety when they increased the banking because they also narrowed the racing surface by almost 20 feet.
"Narrowing it helps when a car does lose control and spins because it doesn't have time to hit the driver's side when it spins around," he said. "With one lane less, it does help with the safety."
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