* When: February 28, 2010 3:16 pm EST * Laps: 267
* Track Length: 1.5 miles
* Race Length: 401.00 miles
* Purse:
-
Drivers to Watch
Kevin Harvick Atop the point standings for the first time since 2007, Harvick is looking for his first win at Las Vegas, where he has two top-five and three top-10 finishes in nine starts. He finished fourth in this race in 2008 but dropped to 12th in 2009. He has finished out of the top 10 in three of his last four LVMS starts. "It's very bumpy," Harvick said of the track. "It's the roughest newly paved race track I've ever raced on. But it gives it some pretty good character to move around on. You can run on the bottom, if your car goes through the bumps good, but you can also run in the middle really fast, too."
Greg Biffle Biffle has one top-five finish at Las Vegas -- third place in 2008 -- and four top-10 finishes. He was seventh last year. "We had a really good run at Vegas last year, and we've had a whole year to improve on our program so I feel really good about this weekend," Biffle said. "We had a really fast race car at California last weekend, but we got caught in the pits on that last stop. These guys are building incredible cars for me to race, and they deserve a lot of credit. ... I'm pretty happy with the way this season has started, but I know we could have had better finishes in both of the first two races so I'm going to do everything I can to make sure this one doesn't get away from us and I know the team will, too."
Jamie McMurray McMurray has no wins, one top-five finish and three top-10s in seven Las Vegas starts. His best finish was fourth in 2004, and since then he has had finishes of 15th, 23rd, 10th, 25th and ninth. "Obviously, we (EGR) have had some great cars over the past few weeks, and we are really looking to continue that momentum as we head to our first 1.5-mile track," he said. "Vegas is extremely fast, but we'll really need to work on getting through the bumps in turn 1 in order to have a good day there."
Ragan has one top-10 finish (seventh in 2008) in three starts at Vegas. "We've had some success at Vegas in the past, and I'm ready to get back out there after our engine issue last year," said Ragan, who was scheduled to fly with the Thunderbirds on Thursday at Nellis Air Force Base. "It's a really fast track and makes for a fast-paced race."
Mark Martin Martin was the winner of the inaugural Cup race at Las Vegas in 1998 and has five top-five finishes and nine top-10s in 12 starts. He was 40th last year, breaking a streak of three straight top-10 finishes. "I love this city," Martin said. "It's probably my favorite place we go. I don't know what it is because I'm not a real 'go-out' kind of guy. But the atmosphere is so great here. You can do anything at any time of day. It's open 24 hours. There are shows and great food. It's just an exciting place to be. When I won here that day was so cool. It was the first time the Cup Series raced at Las Vegas. I don't think the win really sank in at first. I'm trying to really appreciate wins more because you don't know if there will be a next one. And that night, after all the post-race stuff was over, we helicoptered out of the track. The Strip was all lit up and it was just an incredible sight. I remember sitting in the helicopter and letting that win sink in. I just really appreciated that one."
Matt Kenseth Kenseth won at Vegas in 2003 and 2004 and has four top-five finishes and five top-10s in 10 starts there. However, his last-place finish last year was his second consecutive result of 20th or lower after five straight top-10s. "I'm feeling great as far as the two finishes that we've had," Kenseth said. "It sounds dumb, me saying that, since we won the first two last year, but to get out of Daytona with all the troubles we had and finish eighth and then to come here in Todd's first weekend (Todd Parrott replaced Drew Blickensderfer as crew chief last week) and finish seventh is pretty good. We ran a little worse than some of our teammates at times and a little better at times, and it seemed like we ran as good as most of the Fords did. I still think we've got some work to do to get all of our cars better as a group, but I thought overall that our team did a good job."
David Reutimann Reutimann has one top-five, fourth last year, in two starts at LVMS. He finished 37th there in 2008, his rookie season. "I didn't used to like the place at all," Reutimann said. "I never ran very good there. I qualified well there in the Truck Series and I've had some good runs going in the trucks and the Nationwide cars, but it seemed like we'd always have bad stuff happen. I just felt like it was one of those places that I couldn't quite seem to get on the other side of. Last year ... we went through a lot of stuff that weekend, too. We had to change motors. We had an oil leak early in the race that forced us to come down pit road to make a pretty big fix and lost all of our track position. We were able to come back from that and get a good finish and have a pretty good day. Right away when you have something like that happen it changes your outlook on the race track. So I wasn't a big fan of the track to begin with, but now I'm really looking forward to going back. It's strange how one race can change that."
Joey Logano Logano started 20th and finished 13th last year in his first Cup race at Vegas. "Las Vegas is one of the tracks I enjoyed racing on the most last year," he said. "It was the bright spot during a tough start to the season. Last year the goal was to keep our nose clean and run every lap, which we did, and it was one of the tracks that we adapted to well. If last week's improvements are a sign of what's to come, this should be a pretty good weekend for us."
Carl Edwards Edwards won at Vegas in 2008 and has one other top-10 finish there in five starts. Last year he finished 17th. "Vegas is the first mile-and-a-half race, so it will give us a chance to see where we stand with our intermediate program," he said. "Our whole team has been working really hard to get back to Victory Lane. Looking at our stats in Vegas, hopefully we can be as strong there as we have been in the past. The mission at Vegas is to establish a strong intermediate program for the rest of the season, so it's a very important race for us."
Jimmie Johnson Johnson has three wins and four top-10 finishes in eight starts at Vegas. His three victories came in consecutive years -- 2005, 2006 and 2007. Johnson will be driving a new car this weekend, one that has never been raced. "I really like Vegas, especially after the paving job they did a couple of years ago (2007)," said Johnson. "It's really a fun race track to drive -- you have to attack and drive every lap like a qualifying lap."
Kyle Busch Busch won the pole and the race a year ago at Vegas, but the victory didn't come easy -- he had to start last after changing engines. Busch was able to roar through the field and take the lead by lap 54, and he went on to lead three times for 5l laps in what he called the biggest win of his young career.
Brian Vickers Vickers finished eighth last year at Vegas for his first top-10 finish in five starts at the track. "We are a lot better off this year in the point standings than we were a year ago (14th compared to 26th in 2009)," said Vickers. "That takes a lot of pressure off in our bid to get in the Chase again."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt has two runner-up finishes among his four top-10 finishes in 10 Vegas starts. Crew chief Lance McGrew admits that "since I haven't been to Vegas with Dale, it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve. But we were really good at Texas last year (and Earnhardt will be driving the same car this weekend), so I'm excited to get to the track."
Tony Stewart Stewart has four top-five and six top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Vegas. His best finish there was second in 2000. Vegas is the only track with both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races where Stewart has yet to record a win of any kind. "Hopefully we'll change that this weekend," said Stewart.
Paul Menard Menard's best finish in three Vegas starts is 22nd. "We think we've got a pretty good setup figured out for the next couple races, so we're looking forward to getting to Las Vegas this weekend," said Menard. "We'd like to keep the momentum going our way."
Martin Truex Jr. Truex is still looking for his first top-10 finish at Vegas. His best finish in four starts at the track is 12th. "I like the track since they repaved it a few years back," said Truex. "It is another one of those tracks that I find challenging because when they paved it, they put a bunch of bumps in it."
Jeff Gordon Gordon has one win and six top-10 finishes in 12 starts at Vegas, including a sixth a year ago. "We've had fast, competitive cars in the first two events -- we just don't have good finishes to show for it," said Gordon. "But good finishes will come if we keep running near the front. We've had some strong runs recently at Vegas (four top-six finishes in the last five races)."
Denny Hamlin Hamlin has three top-10 finishes in only four starts at Vegas, including a third in 2007. Hamlin knows he needs to turn his luck around this weekend if he wants to start moving up the points ladder. "Vegas is a place where we have actually run really well in the past, and we feel like we can go there and challenge for a win," said Hamlin.
Juan Pablo Montoya Montoya has not fared well at Vegas -- his best finish in three starts is 19th. "We will run a lot better this year," he said boldly. "We are taking much better cars to the track now. All the hard work the team did last year and over the winter is paying off. I feel good about this weekend."
Bobby Labonte Labonte's fifth-place at Vegas last year was his best finish of the season. It was his fourth top-five finish in 12 starts at the track. "I had a really good finish at Las Vegas last year, so I always like going back to a track where I've run well in the past," he said.
Kasey Kahne Kahne has two poles and three top-six finishes in six starts at Vegas. He planned to spend a couple of days back home in Washington this week hanging out with some friends and family and making some promotional appearances.
Mike Bliss Speed finished 21st in his Vegas debut a year ago. "These last two weeks have been a great, refreshing start (to the season) for us," said Speed, who has led in both races. "We need to carry that momentum into the new few races to be well into the top 35 and never have to look back at that again." A driver not in the top 35 in the car owner point standings is not guaranteed a starting spot and must qualify on time.
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Records
Date Series Driver Speed
3/1/98 Sprint Cup Race Mark Martin 147.00
3/1/09 Sprint Cup Qualifying Kyle Busch 185.995
3/3/01 Nationwide Race Todd Bodine 126.00
2/28/09 Nationwide Qualifying Scott Speed 182.451
9/26/09 Camping World Truck Race Johnny Sauter 128.00
9/23/06 Camping World Truck Qualifying Mike Skinner 178.065
Sprint Cup Series
Upcoming Race Feb 28
Shelby American
Preview | Qualifying
Track Facts
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Banking/Turns: Oval
Distance: 1.50 miles
Shape: Oval
Most Cup Wins (since 1975)
* Jimmie Johnson 3
Sprint Cup Nationwide Camping World Truck
Date Race Name Pole Winner Race Winner Make Purse
3/1/09 Shelby 427 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Toyota $6,577,562
3/2/08 UAW-Dodge 400 Kyle Busch Carl Edwards Ford $6,459,779
3/11/07 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Kasey Kahne Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet $6,381,100
3/12/06 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Greg Biffle Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet $6,240,498
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
Last Updated: Saturday, Feb 27, 2010
Shelby American
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Order Driver (No.) Car Qualifying Speed
1 Kurt Busch (2) Dodge 188.719
2 Jeff Gordon (24) Chevrolet 188.646
3 Ryan Newman (39) Chevrolet 188.180
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) Chevrolet 188.173
5 Kyle Busch (18) Toyota 188.153
6 Joey Logano (20) Toyota 187.611
7 Greg Biffle (16) Ford 187.598
8 Mark Martin (5) Chevrolet 187.500
9 Tony Stewart (14) Chevrolet 186.942
10 Juan Pablo Montoya (42) Chevrolet 186.793
11 Matt Kenseth (17) Ford 186.748
12 Carl Edwards (99) Ford 186.554
13 Clint Bowyer (33) Chevrolet 186.548 14 Sam Hornish Jr. (77) Dodge 186.445
15 Joe Nemechek (87) Toyota 186.355 16 Brad Keselowski (12) Dodge 186.245
17 David Reutimann (00) Toyota 186.233
18 David Ragan (6) Ford 186.188
19 Kasey Kahne (9) Ford 185.995
20 Jimmie Johnson (48) Chevrolet 185.963
21 Max Papis (13) Toyota 185.497
22 Jeff Burton (31) Chevrolet 185.395
23 Scott Speed (82) Toyota 185.236
24 Jamie McMurray (1) Chevrolet 185.109
25 Travis Kvapil (34) Ford 185.058
26 Paul Menard (98) Ford 184.773
27 Denny Hamlin (11) Toyota 184.615
28 Regan Smith (78) Chevrolet 184.590
29 Bobby Labonte (71) Chevrolet 184.552
30 Mike Bliss (36) Chevrolet 184.540
31 Brian Vickers (83) Toyota 184.458
32 Marcos Ambrose (47) Toyota 184.445
33 Michael McDowell (55) Toyota 184.439
34 Kevin Harvick (29) Chevrolet 184.080
35 Martin Truex Jr. (56) Toyota 183.961
36 Dave Blaney (66) Toyota 183.955
37 Elliott Sadler (19) Ford 183.468
38 David Gilliland (38) Ford 181.965
39 Kevin Conway (37) Ford 181.843
40 AJ Allmendinger (43) Ford 181.038
41 Boris Said (26) Ford 176.586
42 Robby Gordon (7) Toyota -
43 Aric Almirola (09) Chevrolet 183.038
44 Casey Mears (190) DNQ 182.248
45 Terry Cook (46) DNQ 180.705
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
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