This Weekend in NASCAR: Las Vegas
Posted February 23, 2010; Source - NASCAR Communications

NASCAR stays on the west coast this week, heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series event and Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series has one more off-week before returning to the track March 6 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Likewise, Grand-Am Road Racing is also off, returning March 6-7 with the Grand Prix of Miami.

Storylines to keep an eye on this week follow...

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Harvick Pacing Early-Season RCR Resurgence

The Richard Childress Racing organization is determined to make 2009 a distant memory, and is wasting no time doing so. After two races this season, Kevin Harvick is the series points leader, Clint Bowyer is second and Jeff Burton is fifth.

This follows Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway where Harvick and Burton finished 2-3, with Bowyer eighth.

Now all RCR needs is a victory. Harvick’s winless streak is up to 109 races. Burton has gone 43 races without a win, while Bowyer has gone 64.

Johnson, As Usual, Back On Track

Well, that didn’t take long.

One week after yet another disappointing Daytona 500, four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson reminded people why he is, well, the four-time defending champ.

Johnson’s victory this past Sunday at Auto Club Speedway boosted him to 12th in points and showed that he remains the man to beat in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.

Just in case anyone had forgotten.

Busch Brothers Roll Into Hometown Event

Kyle Busch is the defending champion of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the Shelby American. Adding to the storyline is the fact that Kyle and his brother Kurt are Las Vegas natives.

Kurt comes into this week’s race 11th in the series standings while Kyle is 13th.

Gordon Needs to Climb Out of Hole

Sure, it’s early. But it’s strange to see Jeff Gordon outside the top 20 at any point in the season.

But after two finishes outside the top 15 to start the season, Gordon sits 22nd in points.

Just like a race at Auto Club Speedway came at the perfect time for Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson, an event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway should lift Gordon.

Gordon ranks second in pre-race Driver Rating at Las Vegas, with a 111.5 (Johnson’s first with a 113.6). Gordon also has a series-best Average Running Position of 7.4 and the top Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 92.9%.

Surprises in Standings Abound After Two Weeks

Again, it’s early. But it’s also fun to check out the series standings for surprise names after the first two weeks of racing.

Here’s a couple: Scott Speed is 15th; Paul Menard is 18th.

Both of those drivers are positioning their teams to be in the top 35 of car owner standings after the fifth week of the season. After Week 5, automatic starting spots are given to the top 35 teams. For the first five weeks, the final 2009 owner points are used.

Speed is being forced to qualify for races on time to start this year, since his team finished 36th in the 2009 owner standings.

NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

Last Race For Danica – For Awhile

The highly anticipated three-race NASCAR debut by Danica Patrick wraps up at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, in the Sam’s Town 300.

The first two races of the year have had the spotlight shining squarely on Patrick’s foray into stock-car racing. Saturday will be Patrick’s last before she goes on a four-month hiatus to return to driving full-time in the IndyCar Series. She’ll return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.

Edwards Bucks The Trend

Carl Edwards, the 2007 NNS champion, is the standings leader after two races. That he’s leading the points isn’t new. That he’s leading the points in an even-numbered season is.

Since his first full-time season in the series in 2005, Edwards has led the standings at least once in each odd-numbered year. He didn’t lead in 2006 or 2008 and finished second in the final rankings in each of those seasons.

He has, however, won at least four races in each of his full-time seasons in NNS. But he has yet to win at Las Vegas in NNS competition. He finished second in this race last year before winning the NSCS race the following day.

Regulars Turning Heads

The success of series-only regulars and Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates has been an early-season highlight.

Three regulars – Justin Allgaier (fourth), Steve Wallace (seventh) and rookie James Buescher (eighth) are ranked in the top 10 in points. Another rookie, Brian Scott, is 11th. Four regulars finished in the top 10 last Saturday at Auto Club Speedway, led by Wallace in sixth. Allgaier paced the regulars in the season-opener at Daytona with a fourth-place finish. In both races – Scott at ACS and Allgaier at Daytona – were running second late in the event.

Last year at Las Vegas, five “regular guys” finished in the top 10, led by Jason Leffler’s fourth-place result.

Vegas Turf War For Busch, Gaughan

Kyle Busch has a NASCAR Nationwide Series title, a bundle of records and after his victory last week at Auto Club Speedway, now has 31 wins, third on the all-time list. What he doesn’t have, though, is a series win at his home track.

In six NNS races, his best finish is second in 2007, the year he went sliding across the finish line after a frontstretch drag race with Jeff Burton, the ultimate winner. His average finish in his other five LVMS races? 23rd. His NASCAR Sprint Cup stats are stellar, though. He won the 2009 NSCS race, has won the last two NSCS poles and has an average finish of 11.2.

Brendan Gaughan also is a Las Vegas native. He posted a seventh-place finish in his series track debut last year at this race. During his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series days, he won at LVMS from the pole in 2003. But like Busch, his luck there otherwise hasn’t been the best with a 22.1 average finish in his other nine events.

NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Crafton Looking to Build On Daytona Top-Five Finish

Matt Crafton, runner-up in the 2009 series championship standings to Ron Hornaday Jr., believes that a fifth-place finish in season opener puts the team in “perfect position” to challenge for this year’s title. Crafton has a solid resume at Atlanta Motor Speedway: three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 10 appearances at the next track on the schedule.

Harvick Pulls Early-Season Trigger

“Silly Season” started after the year’s first event, as Kevin Harvick Inc. dismissed crew chief Dave Fuge following the season opener. Harvick has yet to name a replacement but in conversation at Auto Club Speedway over the weekend indicated he’s got a candidate in mind. Meanwhile, KHI driver Ron Hornaday Jr. has put a 27th-place finish behind him. In 2008, Hornaday finished 25th and came within seven points of winning the title.

The series continues to take break before moving to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the March 6 Atlanta 200. Kyle Busch is the defending champion of the race and hopes to become just the second driver (Todd Bodine, Texas Motor Speedway) to win five series events at the same track.