Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

NASCAR notebook: Race not memorable for Las Vegas natives Kurt and Kyle Busch

0306nascar06

Steve Marcus

Kyle Busch’s crew looks over his car in the Neon Garage after the engine blew during the Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, March 6, 2011.

2011 NASCAR Race

A crew member reaches for a tire as Jimmie Johnson (48) pits during the Kobalt Tools 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, March 6, 2011.  Launch slideshow »

The day didn’t go as planned for Las Vegas natives Kyle and Kurt Busch.

Kyle Busch, who won the Sprint Cup race here in 2009, didn’t finish after his car caught fire in the 108th lap of the 267-lap race. About 10 laps earlier, he forced a caution when one of his front tires went out.

Kurt Busch spun out in the 103rd lap to fall to the middle of the pack. He was able to slowly climb back into contention, placing ninth.

“We’re having problems of our own in our hometown,” said Kyle Busch, who was in second place when his tire blew out. “It might be good just to get out of here and come back and try again next year.”

Kurt Busch is still searching for his first Sprint Cup win on his hometown track.

“We wanted to win this thing for sure,” Kurt Busch said. “I came up a little short in my hometown. I think I many have pushed a bit too early driving the car as hard as a I did.”

Gordon knocked out, too:

Jeff Gordon, who won at Phoenix last week to snap a streak of 66 races without a win, also didn’t finish the race. He blew a tire on Turn 3 of the 192nd lap and crashed into the wall. He wasn’t injured.

“We started losing the handling on it there those last couple of runs and that put us back where we were,” said Gordon, who finished in 36th place. “Just drove into Turn 3 and hit the wall. I’m glad I had a safer barrier to hit and a safe car.”

Pole sitter rebounds to finish 11th:

A tire problem for pole-sitter Matt Kenseth pushed him to the back of the race in the initial 20 laps, nearly two laps out of first place. Somehow he managed to finish in 11th.

“They way the race went and the way our car was in traffic, we weren’t as close as we wanted to be and couldn’t get that lap back,” Kenseth said. “Finally we got back into it with 70 to go and couldn’t do any better than we did there.”

Kenseth, who in Friday’s qualifying set a track record with a 28.589-second lap at 188.884 mph, assumes he ran over something on the track, prompting the early tire problems.

Jimmie still searching for first 2011 win:

Five-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who had won four of the last six races in Las Vegas, was never in contention, taking 16th place.

He is still looking for his first win after three races in 2011.

Top 10 finishers include Dale Jr.:

Marcos Ambrose took fourth for his first top-five finish of 2011.

“We had great pit stops and a good crew today,” Ambrose said. “There was a ton of energy out here today, just a ton of good energy. I’m real happy with the finish.”

Also in the top 10: Ryan Newman was in fifth, Martin Truex Jr. took sixth, Denny Hamlin was seventh, fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eighth, Kurt Busch was ninth and Brian Vickers was 10th.

“Anybody that was out there today knew that passing was nearly impossible. It was so hard,” Hamlin said.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy