Las Vegas Native, Kyle Busch Wins The Shelby 427

By JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

""Kyle Busch had the car to beat in the Daytona 500 two weeks ago, but was sidelined by the race's biggest crash.

A week ago he placed third in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Fontana, Calif. He could have won that won, too.

But if Busch could have chosen any race to win among the first three of the Cup season, hands down it would be the one at the speedway he watched being built in the mid-1990s.

On Sunday, the Durango High School graduate wound up performing victory burnouts and planting a sloppy kiss on the start-finish line at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The 23-year-old Busch won the Shelby 427 before an estimated crowd of 140,000, holding off Clint Bowyer of Richard Childress Racing to win by 0.411 seconds.

"We're partying it up big," Busch said. "The plane can't go home tonight (to Charlotte, N.C.), so it's going to be one heck of a party in Las Vegas."

Busch, the younger brother of fellow Sprint Cup racer Kurt Busch, became the first driver to win the pole and then the race in 12 years of Cup events in Las Vegas.

But Busch's pole start lasted only a few warmup laps. Busch qualified first Friday, but his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and four other cars were sent to the rear of the 43-car field after having to replace troublesome Toyota engines. That left Busch in the 38th starting position.

After that setback, Busch said he "could have threw my helmet down and stomped away." Instead, he calmly went to the office inside his race-car transporter.

"I just went in the hauler and let (the crew) go to work and do what they do best," he said. "I just kind of sat there and cooled off a little bit, watched the rest of practice."

During Sunday's driver introductions, Busch informed the crowd that he was motivated to quickly get to the front.

"I said, 'Know what, we're going to the back. Get ready for a show, here it comes.' ''
The storybook finish was fitting for a Strip showroom.

"We just had to battle back," he said of taking the last of his three leads with 17 laps to go.
Busch maintained his composure early in the race as he knifed through the field while crew chief Steve Addington was fine-tuning the car's handling on each pit stop.

"I have to thank that guy," Busch said of Addington. "He's the leader in this team, everybody believes in him. I believe in him."

The race, extended this year from 400 to 427 miles, was slowed by an event-record 14 caution periods that slowed a record 66 laps. The last two cautions didn't upset Busch.

"The last 25, 30 laps, I was just as nervous as could be," he said. "Fortunately we ran that many caution laps there at the end."

The weekend began with Matt Kenseth's quest to become the first Cup driver in 61 years to begin a season with three straight victories. When Kenseth's No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford blew an engine after only six laps, that quest went up in smoke.

By the end of the day, the only smoke was coming from Busch's car as he performed burnouts on the apron.""

Race Results

1. (1) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 285 laps, 107.8 rating, 190 points
2. (37) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 285, 84.8, 175
3. (14) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 285, 111, 170
4. (4) David Reutimann, Toyota, 285, 87.9, 160
5. (17) Bobby Labonte, Ford, 285, 103.7, 155
6. (28) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 285, 112.2, 155
7. (24) Greg Biffle, Ford, 285, 118.4, 151
8. (21) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 285, 85.8, 142
9. (38) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 285, 91.8, 138
10. (31) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 285, 92.9, 134
11. (7) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 285, 68.5, 135
12. (9) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 285, 105.8, 132
13. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 285, 73.9, 129
14. (30) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, 285, 62.8, 121
15. (32) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 285, 58.3, 123
16. (12) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 285, 82.5, 115
17. (16) Carl Edwards, Ford, 285, 92, 117
18. (11) David Stremme, Dodge, 284, 82.7, 109
19. (18) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 284, 60.5, 106
20. (5) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 284, 46.4, 103
21. (42) Scott Speed, Toyota, 284, 51.1, 100
22. (34) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 284, 61.7, 97
23. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 284, 78.2, 99
24. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 284, 119.9, 101
25. (6) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 283, 71, 88
26. (10) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 283, 96.3, 85
27. (15) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 283, 64.4, 82
28. (29) John Andretti, Dodge, 283, 49.9, 79
29. (33) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 283, 34, 76
30. (41) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 282, 41.7, 73
31. (23) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 281, 77.3, 70
32. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 281, 52.7, 67
33. (19) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 281, 37, 64
34. (39) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 278, 43, 61
35. (36) Paul Menard, Ford, accident, 269, 57.1, 58
36. (26) Max Papis, Toyota, 258, 33.9, 55
37. (43) Todd Bodine, Toyota, engine, 227, 33, 52
38. (13) Brad Keselowski, Chevrolet, 221, 27.5, 49
39. (27) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, accident, 143, 47.7, 46
40. (8) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, engine, 121, 87, 43
41. (22) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, transmission, 102, 34.6, 40
42. (35) David Ragan, Ford, engine, 72, 41.1, 37
43. (40) Matt Kenseth, Ford, engine, 6, 26.8, 34

Race Statistics

Winner's Average Speed: 119.513 mph
Time of Race: 3 hours, 34 minutes, 40 seconds
Margin of Victory: 0.411 seconds
Caution Flags: 14 for 66 laps
Lead Changes: 16 among 12 drivers

Lap Leaders: J. Johnson 1-50; C. Edwards 51-52; J. Logano 53; Ky. Busch 54-55; R. Gordon 56; J. Johnson 57-75; K. Harvick 76-84; G. Biffle 85-124; K. Kahne 125; J. Johnson 126-148; J. Gordon 149-165; Ku. Busch 166; J. Burton 167-227; Ky. Busch 228-259; C. Bowyer 260-268; Ky. Busch 269-285

Leaders Summary (driver, times led, laps led): J. Johnson, 3 times for 92 laps; J. Burton, 1 time for 61 laps; Ky. Busch, 3 times for 51 laps; G. Biffle, 1 time for 40 laps; J. Gordon, 1 time for 17 laps; C. Bowyer, 1 time for 9 laps; K. Harvick, 1 time for 9 laps; C. Edwards, 1 time for 2 laps; K. Kahne,1 time for 1 lap; J. Logano, 1 time for 1 lap; R. Gordon, 1 time for 1 lap; Ku. Busch, 1 time for 1 lap.

Top 12 in Points: 1. J. Gordon 459. 2. C. Bowyer 441. 3. M. Kenseth. 419. 4. G. Biffle 419. 5. D. Reutimann 408. 6. Ky. Busch 405. 7. Ku. Busch 393. 8. T. Stewart 379. 9. C. Edwards 377. 10. B. Labonte 360. 11. K. Harvick 351. 12. M. Waltrip 346.

Looking at Nascar's 2009 Season

Hendrick Motorsports is celebrating it 25th season in Nascar. What a lineup they have with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and even the very overrated Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Nascar's 2009 season will start with the Daytona 500 on Febuary 15 at the world famous Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Nascar season is very long, it runs from now to the weekend before Thanksgiving on November, so I'll only cover when my favorite drivers Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson win, the Las Vegas race the first weekend in March, special events like the all-star race, and any breaking news or scandals.

Today, Jeff Gordon who was winless all last season, made it to victory lane in his running of the Gatoraid dual 125's. This a great way to start the drive for his 5th championship.

""That's what happens when you have four championships, 81 career race wins and are coming off your first winless season in a Hall of Fame-worthy, 17-year career.

"I'm headed straight in to victory lane, VIC-TOR-Y lane," Gordon shouted to his crew seconds after taking the checkered flag in the first of Thursday's two Daytona 500 qualifying races, the Gatorade Duel.

This was his first trophy drive-in since October of 2007, 41 races ago -- and site of the first win of his career 16 years ago.

While the 150-mile qualifying race doesn't pay points toward the Sprint Cup championship, it's still typically one of the most competitive races of the season -- a sprint race with the Daytona 500 starting grid on the line.

Drivers have especially been proud of the tight-quarter racing this week -- cars easily going three and four-wide and passing at will, not like the monotonous freight-train style that sometimes prevails here.

And the outcome was the perfect antidote for Gordon's No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet team. Some questioned whether it had lost its incredible edge."It doesn't matter if it's a qualifying race or the Daytona 500, you know, any confidence builder and momentum that we can get is a positive," Gordon said, adding this win meant more to him because of the struggles last year.

"Heck yeah," Gordon said. "Any win's exciting and meaningful to us right now. I think what makes this special is, these races aren't easy to win. ... But right now I think that because of the pressure that we felt from being winless last year, it's important for us to gain some momentum and confidence.""" The following was quoted from a AOL fanhouse blog.

I'm looking forword to this season, and the sucess of Hendrick Motorsports. I hope that jr doesn't drag Hendricks down like he did last season, he is a cancer, and his own family doesn't want to work with him.

Jimmie Johnson - Nascar's 3-Time Champion

On Sunday, Hendrick Motorsport's driver, Jimmie Johnson won his 3rd straight Sprint Cup Championship. The Sprint Cup is given to Nascar's Point Champion at the end of each season.

Johnson won the title by finishing in 15th place that the season ending Ford 400 at Homestead - Miami Speedway.

Jimmie Johnson joins one of his car owners, Jeff Gordon, as well as Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Cale Yarborough, Lee Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and David Pearson as the only drivers in Nascar's history to reach this level.

In his seven full seasons as a driver, Johnson has 40 career victories, 101 Top-5s and 156 Top-10s. A very impressive record for someone who still growing as a driver. Among all the numbers are a Daytona 500 win, two wins at the Brickyard and a record four-race streak of wins at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Jeff Gordon, who finished the year winless for the first time since his 1993 rookie season. The four-time series champion didn't let his own struggles dampen his Hendrick teammate's celebration, as Gordon walked to the victory stage to offer his congratulations. Plus it must help a little bit that Gordon has some of the car ownership money coming as well.

Both these great drivers who have redefine Nascar racing will be back on the track for the 2009 season, and the Daytona 500 in Feburary.

But before that champion Jimmie Johnson and the rest of the top 1o season finishers will be heading to Nascar's Award Night in New York City.