Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Busch seeing dream come true at Roush

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

Kurt Busch's head is spinning these days, and it has nothing to do with the mild case of pneumonia the native Las Vegan has been battling the past week.

Busch, hired last month to drive the No. 99 Roush Racing Exide Batteries Ford in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, has relocated to Michigan to be closer to the team's shop. He already has tested once at Daytona International Speedway -- where the NCTS opens the 2000 season Feb. 18 -- and next week the 21-year-old will take part in his second test on the high-banked oval.

"A dream come true is exactly what it is," Busch said of his long-term deal with team owner Jack Roush. "It's more like an honor to be driving for Roush. This is by far one of the top teams in NASCAR and in the truck series and any series I want to progress on from here. They're going to make my transition a little easier and make my goals a little easier to accomplish."

Busch's lifelong goal of driving in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series suddenly became more of a reality than a dream when he signed his seven-year contract with Roush. The plan, Busch said, is to move up to Winston Cup, through the Busch Series, by 2006.

"They want to take me on to Busch and Winston Cup -- it's just a matter of producing results," Busch said. "What they have told me is we can spend either one year in trucks or two years in trucks -- the maximum of three years in trucks -- and then move on to Busch and do the same thing, with a maximum of three, and then on to Winston Cup.

"They've given me seven years as a timetable, it's just a matter of how quickly we move through it."

As if landing a multi-year contract with Roush in one of NASCAR's national touring series wasn't a big enough of a thrill for Busch, he will run his first NCTS race next month at the legendary Daytona International Speedway.

"I don't know if that's the icing on the cake or not but I'm going to have to learn how to swim real quick in that pool of sharks," Busch said of the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

"It's hard to say why NASCAR decided to open at Daytona but it's going to be like a race from the '70s with no restrictor plates. I tested there once and we're going to test there again next week. I'm prepared as far as driving around by myself but the draft is going to be different."

* NASCAR: Bobby Hamilton Jr. was in Las Vegas this week testing his 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in preparation for the upcoming Busch Series season.

Hamilton said that while the 2000 Monte Carlo has received rave reviews from Winston Cup drivers, the new body style has posed some problems for the Busch Series drivers.

"The 2000 Monte Carlo is a little off," Hamilton said. "It has a little more drag. I talked to my dad (NASCAR Winston Cup driver Bobby Hamilton), and he said it helps in the Winston Cup cars because they have 200 more horsepower, so they can afford the drag. But it hurts our cars."

The Busch Series returns to LVMS on March 4, the day before the CarsDirect.com 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race.

* CART: Chip Ganassi, owner of the four-time defending FedEx Championship Series team, has confirmed that he plans to field cars for Juan Montoya and Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser at this year's Indianapolis 500.

Ganassi is the only CART owner who has committed to field cars at Indy in May.

Ganassi did not rule out the possibility of running an IRL race, perhaps the April 22 event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, to prepare for the Indy 500.

"It's not out of the question we'll go to Las Vegas," Ganassi told the Indianapolis Stars News. "I understand that would be the place to go if we wanted to get a feel for the cars and the engines."

Vasser won the 1996 CART championship and Montoya is the defending seres champion.

* IRL: Al Unser Jr. said he turned down offers from several NASCAR Winston Cup teams to remain in open-wheel racing this season. Unser will drive for team owner Rick Galles in 2000.

"It wasn't too difficult not to go to NASCAR," Unser said. "They're running every weekend, basically, and their cars aren't as high performance as the single-seat cars. I've run one NASCAR race, the 1993 Daytona 500, and IROC, which gives me a good indication of what the cars are like." ...

Insurance giant Conseco, Inc., which used to sponsor one of A.J. Foyt's entries in the IRL, will serve as the primary sponsor of Team Menard and driver Greg Ray this season. Ray is the defending IRL series champion.

* BACKMARKERS: Two Las Vegas drivers were included among Sports Illustrated's "50 Greatest Sports Figures" of the 20th century from Nevada in the magazine's Dec. 27 issue. Off-road specialist Rob MacCachren was 44th on the list while 1999 NASCAR Southwest Series champion Kurt Busch was 46th. ...

Las Vegas Motor Speedway has named Brian Dewitt to the position of coordinator of public relations. Dewitt primarily will be responsible for dragway public relations and the Speedway's website.

A native of southern Illinois, Dewitt is a graduate of UNLV with a Bachelor of Arts in corporate communication. ...

The Best In The Desert Racing Association will hold the "Nevada 2000" off-road race this July -- a nearly 2000-mile lap of Nevada that will begin and end in Las Vegas. The six-day off-road endurance race will begin July 9 in Las Vegas and will run through Mesquite, Ely, Elko, Reno and Tonopah before ending July 14 in Las Vegas.

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