Beccas Pace Lap

Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- 03/1/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Friday Feb 27 2009 8:18pm

Becca's Pace Lap: Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

• Front Row: Kyle Busch (P1), Kurt Busch (P2)

(Kyle Busch will be moving to the rear of the field following an engine change, but will maintain first choice of pit stalls). Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 3rd, will move up to the pole position.

• Pole Qualifying Speed: 185.995 miles per hour

• Highest Starting Rookie: Joey Logano - starts 20th

• To the Rear: At press time, five Toyota teams will be dropping to the rear of the field, all for engine changes: Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers and Scott Speed. Reutimann and Ambrose had qualified in the fourth and fifth positions.

• Fastest Qualifier by Manufacturer::
Chevy: Jimmie Johnson (3rd)
Dodge: Kurt Busch (2nd)
Ford: Carl Edwards (16th)
Toyota: Kyle Busch (1st - but will start in back)

• Outside the Top 35 Who Made the Field:
A.J. Allmendinger
Todd Bodine
David Gilliland
Brad Keselowski
Joe Nemechek
Max Papis
Regan Smith
Tony Stewart

• Outside the Top 35 Who Missed the Cut:
Dexter Bean
Dave Blaney
Mike Garvey
Travis Kvapil
Sterling Marlin
Jeremy Mayfield
Tony Raines
Scott Riggs

• Weather Forecast: Variably cloudy, 73°F, SE winds at 18-25 mph with higher gusts

• Race Notes:

Last year's race winner: Jimmie Johnson

This year's Las Vegas race has been lengthened from 400 to 427 miles in honor of the race sponsor's `Shelby 427.`

The Toyota engine situation will be a story to follow, as five Toyota teams changed engines Friday including polesitter Kyle Busch and last week's polesitter Brian Vickers.

Matt Kenseth, who's trying to set a record this weekend as the first driver to win the first three races of the year, holds the record for the deepest starting spot for a race winner at LVMS. Kenseth started 25th here in 2003 and went on to win the race. He was scheduled to start 40th on Sunday, but will start somewhat higher due to the number of cars moving to the back.

Kenseth also holds the record for most laps led in a Las Vegas race, 146 laps in 2006, and for the biggest margin of victory, 9.104 seconds over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003.

Jimmie Johnson has won three of 11 races at LVMS and qualified third, but will be starting from the pole on Sunday due to polesitter Kyle Busch's engine change. This race has never been won from the pole, though Carl Edwards won from P2 last year.

• Quotes of the Week:

“I am looking forward to it. They did a pretty good job when they changed this race track. It has a lot of bumps now, but it is still a pretty good race track. Reminds me a lot of mid-90s Charlotte. It is getting bumpy out there, but it is pretty fun. They did a good job massaging the tire a little bit and changing some of the characteristics of the tire during the test. It seemed pretty comfortable and they gave us a little more grip. We can drive the cars a little bit more and feel what the car is doing. Looks like it is going to be a pretty good weekend for everybody.” - Dale Earnhardt Jr., Hendrick Motorsports No. 88, on the tire and track surface combination for Sunday's race.

“I know last year the focus was on Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 and Carl Edwards and that whole battle for the championship, but we were slowly making gains for ourselves. We were more consistent and more competitive, just not as much as those guys. And so we looked at what our competitors were doing and obviously we know what the No. 48 has in there for a set-up. Over this off-season, instead of going to tracks and testing, we restructured a little bit engineering-wise, in our staff and the two guys that Steve chose to come with him to the track, which we did for a few of the last Chase races, and then as well as working with those guys to create simulation set-ups and testing as much as we possibly can without actually going to a race track.` - Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports No. 24, on the improvements his team made during the offseason.

• Current oddsmakers' favorite: Jimmie Johnson +400

• Long shots to watch:

Dale Earnhardt Jr. +2500

Jamie McMurray +4000

* All information current at press time

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User	Comment
Elgar	Logano for a rookie not too shabby. I am going to be a little surprised if this one falls back in the season though, some people have high hopes for em.
goJJgo	Joey Logano was the highest starting rookie and he was back at number 20? Wow, that means 20 veterans were in the front of the pack. I`ll have to look up where Joey ended the race now out of curiosity.
littlebit	I know that Nascar cars are as aerodynamic as possible and all that but I wonder how much the wind effects the driving? With "winds at 18-25 mph with higher gusts", that has to have some effect and make driving more difficult, especially at certain spots on the track.
Cal	DentedFender I hope you did not get that name for what I am thinking, and how have your safe bets played out so far this season?
Kevin	You want a long shot? Check out the +4000 odds on Jamie McMurray up there.... I`ve never even heard of the guy and I follow Nascar pretty closely. I`ll put my money on Jimmie and Matt.
Casey Hillman	I think I`m going with Jeff Gordon in this race as a long shot. The guy is a dang good racer so putting a few bucks on him as a long shot bet is not a bad investment. My main money is going on JJ because of his previous experience on this track.
Ben Smith	Both Matt Kenseth and Jimmy Johnson are looking good for this race but then so is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Its a coin toss in my opinion after checking out the stats from today`s trial runs.
MasterModder	The one guy here to keep your eye on here is Matt Kenseth. This guy has came out of nowhere this year and he has done really well so far this year. I think he has a better than average chance of winning tomorrow even with his horrible starting position.
MysteryMan	Jimmie did quite well today and everything looks good for him to pick up his usual win tomorrow like he did last year, and the year before I believe.... It would be interesting if someone else did win this race besides JJ.
DentedFender	Safe bet = $100 on Jimmie Johnson, $5 on Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jamie McMurray. If either of these win your going to be laughing all the way to the pig. lol
RaceFan88	I`m glad that Tony Stewart made the cut. I`m still not used to seeing him outside the number 20, Home Depot car. He was so identified with that just as Dale Jarrett was identified with UPS. (I always wanted him to race that brown truck.) I got my best friend interested in Nascar at the end of last season so she`s cheering on Jimmie Johnson. She`ll admit it; it`s the looks! I`m glad racing is back. It was a long few months.