| | | | | |  | | CIA Stock Photo | With victories in the first two Nationwide Series races of the season, Tony Stewart is the favorite to win Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. | | | | LAS VEGAS ODDS | Bet on more of the same at Las Vegas | |
| | By Amanda Brahler / Sporting News With victories in the first two Nationwide Series races of the season, Tony Stewart is the favorite to win Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
But putting money on Stewart’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch wouldn’t be a bad bet, either. Busch finished second at Las Vegas last year and has finished right behind Stewart in the first two races of the season.
But don’t put all of your money on the JGR duo. Defending champion Jeff Burton has won the Sam’s Town 300 a record three times.
“The racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is pretty exciting,” Burton said. “The racing surface is still fairly new, and the banking in the corners are a lot steeper than what they used to be. It’s quite a challenge for the drivers, to be quite honest, but we typically run well at that track so that’s always exciting.”
Stewart finished third on the 1.5-mile track last year, when the biggest issue was the performance of the Goodyear tires on the new track surface. Stewart says that no longer should be a factor.
“The good news is that we’re not going to have to be on that tire this year for either the Nationwide race or the Cup race,” he said. “And the track has seasoned in pretty quick for a year.”
It is also a matter of comfort.
“Obviously when you don’t like the tire you’re on and you don’t feel comfortable out there, when you go out and have a good run, it definitely does help your confidence for Sunday,” Stewart said.
Busch’s desire to snag a win in his hometown is obvious. His run toward the checkered flag last year made that clear. Heading to the finish, Busch made a hard-charging move on Burton but lost control, wrecking as he crossed the finish line. Burton walked away with the win while Busch was left with a mutilated racecar.
“It was a fun race, but you would like to be able to win the thing instead of finishing second,” said Busch, who enters the weekend first in the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck points standings and second in Nationwide. “This year, hopefully, we’ll at least have the opportunity to race up in the front with all of those guys.
“This year I think I know what I can do a little bit differently in order to come out on top.”
| | Posted February 28, 2008 , 10:35 pm EST
Last Updated February 28, 2008 , 10:36 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
