Tuesday, April 12, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Las Vegas native Casey Kingsland's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway did not go exactly how he had planned.
Kingsland, 20, had hoped to gain valuable seat time by running the entire 250-lap race in the No. 24 Speed Zone Energy Drink Dodge Ram. Instead, Kingsland was involved in several on-track incidents that damaged the truck and eventually he was parked by NASCAR officials for failing to maintain the minimum speed after completing only 104 laps on the half-mile track.
"We wanted to put down as many laps as we (could), keep it off the wall and get a good finish," Kingsland said. "It was hard to do what NASCAR was asking me to do; they wanted me to keep up my speed, but I was trying to be courteous to the leaders. I had to slow down so much in the corners to give the leaders room, but then with such a small track, I couldn't keep my speed up."
Kingsland started from the 35th position and was credited with a 36th-place finish.
Team owner Tommy Ramirez said he was not discouraged by Kingsland's first attempt at the Craftsman Truck Series.
"Casey did a great job for us," Ramirez said. "There were some unfortunate incidents early on that weren't his fault, putting him at a major disadvantage. He did a great job trying to keep the truck together after that. Overall, the whole experience was awesome."
Ramirez did not say whether Kingsland would drive the No. 24 truck in the next race, at Gateway International Raceway on April 30.
"From here, we'll test with Casey and when he is ready, we'll make an announcement about our next event."
LYNCH SCORES WIN: Another Las Vegas resident, Scott Lynch, fared better over the weekend. Lynch scored his first NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series victory of the season Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif.
Lynch, the 2003 West Series champion, passed series points leader David Gilliland on the final lap of the 15-lap event and notched his seventh career victory in the series. Lynch is fourth in the championship after two races and trails Gilliland by 41 points.
BACK TO BUSCH: NASCAR Nextel Cup Series rookie Kyle Busch will make three more starts in the NASCAR Busch Series this season in a second Hendrick Motorsports entry, the team announce Monday.
Busch, a Las Vegas native who won five races and finished second in the Busch Series championship last season, is scheduled to compete in Saturday's Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway as well as the June 4 race at Dover International Speedway and the Oct. 14 event at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the No. 57 Chevrolet.
"I had such a good time running in the Busch Series last year," Busch said. "The competition level is awesome and the cars are really fun to drive. So when I was offered the opportunity to come back and run these races in the No. 57 for Lowe's and its vendor partners, I jumped at the chance."
Lowe's sponsored Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet in the Busch Series last season. Spectracide, Shop Vac and Sta Green will be the primary sponsors on the cars Busch will drive in those three races.
AT THE BULLRING: Former NFL kicker Mike Cofer led all 50 laps en route to a Super Late Models victory Saturday night during the opening night of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Matt Jaskol (Speed Trucks), Brian Matzke (Chargers), Josh Gross (Legends Cars), Matt Williams (IMCA Modifieds) and Gary Wyatt (Bullring Bombers) also scored main-event victories Saturday night.
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