This weekend may provide a homecoming for Kyle Busch as both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series head to his hometrack, Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Even so, is this weekend a race weekend that Busch is looking forward too, at least as far as Nationwide competition is concerned?
"Winning at every track is a big deal, but I think for Kyle, winning out there is even a bigger deal," crew chief Jason Ratcliff said.
Sure, Busch made it to victory lane at LVMS last year, but that was in Sprint Cup competition. When it comes to Nationwide Series competition, the home track hasn't been so kind. In his six previous Nationwide races at Las Vegas, he only has one top-five finish, a runner-up showing in 2007. Busch's average Nationwide Series LVMS finish -- 23.0. His two most recent Nationwide starts there have resulted in DNFs that produced results of 31st and 39th. His finish there a year ago was his worst Nationwide finish of the entire 2009 campaign.
"My preference would be to win both races at Las Vegas and get a sweep for the weekend," Busch said. "It'd be nice to win the Nationwide race though, considering we've crashed out of the last two races there."
Rookies seem to be the ones who come up with the best hand when it comes to racing at Las Vegas, or at least that's how things panned out in 2009. In last year's race, four series rookies claimed spots in the top-10 finishing order, claiming positions six through nine.
Among those four rookies was Brendan Gaughan, who, like Busch, is a Las Vegas native. Gaughan finished seventh at his home track last season, faring much better than veteran Busch. That finish, though, is one of the few bright spots in his LVMS racing history. While last year's Sam's Town 300 was Gaughan's Nationwide debut at the track, he does have 10 Camping World Truck Series starts there. He won the truck event at LVMS in 2003, but other than that, his NCWTS stats at the home track are similar to Busch's Nationwide LVMS stats. In the nine truck races there other than his win, his average finish is 22.1.
While for the most part, he hasn't finished well, Gaughan will be looking to get his season turned around early and hoping for a finish similar to his LVMS Nationwide showing a year ago with this weekend's stop in his hometown. He heads into this weekend, seemingly in somewhat of a sophomore slump. After two races into his rookie season of 2009, he was eighth in the points standings and leading the rookie of the year race (that Justin Allgaier eventually won). This season is a much different story. He comes into Vegas 28th in points -- a result of a 30th-place finish in the season-opener at Daytona and a 24th a week ago in Fontana.
Television coverage for Saturday's Sam's Town 300 is slated for a 4 p.m. ET start on ESPN2.
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