The NASCAR Sprint Cup series stays out west this week and assumingly won't have any rain troubles at this week's stop in Las Vegas on Sunday.
While Jimmie Johnson is the three-time winner of this event, it's hard to bet against Kyle Busch this week. The 22-year-old, now driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, leads the series standings for the first time in his career as he heads to his hometown.
"This is probably one of the top five Sprint Cup races of the year for me," said Busch, who is +800 at WagerWeb.com. "It's a fun place to race. The fans get to watch a great show at Las Vegas, and I am sure we'll have a good time again."
In addition to leading the Cup standings entering the weekend, Busch also led the Craftsman Truck Series standings -- the first driver in history to lead the Cup and truck standings at the same time -- and was second in the Nationwide Series standings. Busch has finished in the top five in every NASCAR start he has made in 2008, with his worst finish being two fourth-place runs in the Cup car.
Older brother Kurt Busch (+1500) also says a win this weekend in Vegas would be a highlight.
"If I was to win at Vegas on Sunday, oh man, I'd come unglued," said Busch, who drives for Penske Racing. "It's my big race. It's my hometown. "With the track being among the most popular venues we visit now, it'd be extra special to win this weekend. I want to win at all the tracks, and hopefully I'll be around long enough to win at most of them. But Vegas is No. 1 on my list right now."
Kurt Busch's best finish in seven races at Las Vegas is third in 2005. He finished second to teammate Ryan Newman in the Daytona 500 and was 13th in the rain-delayed race at California.Newman, meanwhile, has no wins, one top-five (fourth in 2002) and four top-10 finishes in seven career starts at Vegas and did win the pole there in his 2005. He looks to continue the best start of his career, following Daytona with a 10th-place finish at Fontana.
"We have a lot of momentum, and we don't want to lose that," said Newman (+2500). "We had a good test at Las Vegas. That track is about being fast, getting the car to ride good and figuring out ways to create advantages that are becoming fewer and fewer over other teams. We learned a lot in the test, and we need to keep working on it in practice so we will be at our best for the race."
If Johnson, who lost the lead last week at rainy California with 13 laps to go, was to make it a four-peat at Vegas, he would surpass Jeff Gordon as the most recent to do so at one event; Gordon is the last driver to win the same event four consecutive times, the fall event at Darlington from 1995-98.
Other than Johnson, who is the WagerWeb.com favorite this week at +350, Matt Kenseth (2003-04) and Jeff Burton (1999-2000) have also won in consecutive years.
Tony Stewart also has raced well in Vegas; Stewart has four top-five finishes and six top-10s in nine starts there. He finished second in 2000, third in 2004 and had back-to-back fifth-place finishes in 2002 and 2003.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. hasn't had much success in Sin City; is best finish in eight starts was a second in 2003, and he finished 11th last year.
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