Burton captures Sam's Town 300

Mark Martin's misfortune allowed Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton to capture the NASCAR Busch Series Sam's Town 300 Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Burton passed Martin with four laps remaining when Martin got caught behind a spinning Jack Sprague in turn four, had to check up, and Burton went by on the low side and took the yellow flag.

The race finished under caution.

"It's a great day for Roush Racing," said Burton, who led 81 of the 200 laps in the NorthernLight.com Ford Taurus. "The car that probably should have won the race didn't win the race and that's a shame for Mark, but we needed a break --- it has been about a year since we won one of these things, so it was good to finally get (one)."

Martin, Joe Nemechek, Todd Bodine and Matt Kenseth followed Burton, who won his 11th career Busch Series race, to the yellow and checkered flags. Jeff Green, Jeff Purvis, Ron Hornaday, Randy LaJoie and Hut Stricklin rounded out the top 10.

Martin fell off the lead lap 85 laps into the race when he had to return to the pits after his crew left a gasoline catch can in the back of his Winn-Dixie Ford. Martin eventually got his lap back when a caution flag came out on lap 113.

"It's kind of hard to get beat (like that) right at the end," Martin said. "That's never easy to take. The Winn-Dixie team did a great job with the car today and we overcame some problems and had some great pit strategy and a good-handling car. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. I'm sure Jeff Burton had it planned that way.

"It's just a great car. It's the same car we ran at Rockingham. That's my favorite car in the stable and being that this is the last year we're going to run this series, we want to go out and win every race and we're giving it all we've got."

Martin dominated the field in winning last year's Sam's Town 300, leading 150 of the 200 laps. He led 64 laps Saturday.

Burton, who won his first Busch Series race of 2000, admitted he probably would not have caught Martin had it not been for Sprague's spin.

"I got upset because it seemed like every time we caught the lapped cars, I was catching them in the corner and he was catching them on the straightaway. I told (my crew) on the radio, 'Gosh, these lapped cars are driving me crazy,' and then I looked up and they were two-wide and about three deep in front of me.

"When I would get up to (Martin), my car would pick up a terrible push and I don't think I would have ever got by him. It made it exciting anyway, I guess."

There were three caution periods in the race for 17 laps. Mike McLaughlin, Jason Jarrett and Sprague were involved in single-car accidents but all three were treated and released from the infield medical center. There were nine lead changes among five drivers.

Pole-sitter Hank Parker Jr. experienced a lack of horsepower at the start of the race and never was a factor as he finished 31st. Parker's team reported the problem to be a crossed spark-plug wire.

Burton, the defending NASCAR Winston Cup race winner at LVMS, said he learned something about the track going into Sunday's CarsDirect.com 400.

"This track is a lot different than it was here last year," Burton said. "Everybody in the Cup cars are sliding around (or) they're tight ... and this (Busch) car today was on a rail.

"I think it'll teach us something about how the track changes. I learned a little today but these cars take such a different setup than what a Winston Cup car does."

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