LOOKING IN ON: MOTOR SPORTS

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007 | 7:38 a.m.

It took only one season of racing on the high-speed ovals in the IndyCar Series to convince Patrick Carpentier that he would be better off racing cars with doors and fenders.

Carpentier, a Las Vegas resident, has been racing sports cars this season after spending the previous nine years in open-wheel racing. He said he hopes to further his career in NASCAR with a strong showing in the inaugural Busch Series race Saturday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in his native Montreal.

It's not that Carpentier doesn't like oval racing - he said he just didn't like oval racing in the IndyCar Series.

"I loved the ovals - I always have - but I don't want to do the ovals in the (IndyCar Series) anymore for safety reasons," he said. "I want to do it with NASCAR."

To that end, Carpentier competed in a stock-car race last year in Canada's version of NASCAR. He started 21st and finished sixth on a 5/8-mile oval in Cayuga, Ontario, which fueled his desire to make the move to stock-car racing.

"I really love driving these cars," he said.

Carpentier, 35, made 140 starts in CART/ChampCar from 1997 to 2004 and won five races and five poles. He spent the 2005 season with Red Bull Cheever Racing in the IndyCar Series and posted three top-five finishes in 17 starts.

Carpentier said he has turned down offers to return to open-wheel racing so he could concentrate on this weekend's race.

"I don't miss the open wheel," he said. "I've had calls from (team owner Bobby) Rahal this year and a couple other teams that wanted me to get back into it and I said, 'No, I'm going to focus on NASCAR. I want to do well in Montreal in the Busch.'"

Carpentier, who will drive the No. 22 Dodge for Fitz Motorsports this weekend, may be a novice when it comes to the Busch Series cars, but he has plenty of experience on the 2.709-mile road course. He won there in the developmental open-wheel Atlantic Series and earned finishes of second and third in three starts on the circuit in Champ Cars.

"If I'm top 10, I'll be happy with that result," he said. "For sure, I'm aiming higher than that - I'm hoping to be in the top five - but realistically, top 10, I would be happy."

When pressed, though, Carpentier said the ultimate goal is to win in front of his hometown fans.

"But I don't say it too loud," he added. "Honestly, I don't want to put pressure on myself, but if I say it with a quiet voice, for sure that's what I would like to do.

"It would be kind of a dream come true for me and it would help us motivate the sponsors and the people to keep running the Busch Series."

Midweek racing

Weekly NASCAR racing at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway resumes next week with a rare Wednesday night show.

Racing will be contested in Super Late Models, ASA Speed Trucks, Legends Cars and Thunder Roadsters. Two-time NASCAR Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie is scheduled to compete in the 75-lap Speed Trucks feature and 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force will sign autographs from 6 to 7 p.m. behind the main grandstand.

Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. and qualifying and heat races begin at 6.

Locals shine

Las Vegas resident Rod Fuller may have lost in the semifinals, but last weekend's Fram Autolite National Hot Rod Association Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., still had a Southern Nevada flavor.

Duane Shields of Boulder City won the Top Alcohol Dragster class, and Justin Lamb of Henderson captured the Super Comp.

Number of points separating 12th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 13th-place Kurt Busch in the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings after 20 races. Only the top 12 drivers after 26 races advance to the "Chase for the Nextel Cup."

Career Nextel Cup victories for Kurt Busch at the tracks in the remaining six "regular-season" races.

"I think it says that I'm old and I've been here for a long time."

NASCAR Nextel Cup Series veteran Kyle Petty, on making his 800th career Cup start last weekend.