UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup series race

By Brian Hilderbrand

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008 | 2 a.m.

See that driver sitting on the pole for Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race? Forget him, he probably won’t win; no pole sitter ever has won the Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

In fact, only three of the 10 previous race winners in Las Vegas have done so from a top-10 starting position. Heck, Jimmie Johnson, who has won the past three races at the speedway, started 23rd last year, and Matt Kenseth won the 2004 race after starting 25th.

The driver who wins the pole Friday likely will be an afterthought by the time the checkered flag falls Sunday afternoon. But when NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series hits the track for its 11th annual visit to the 1.5-mile speedway, there will be plenty of story lines for fans to follow during the 267-lap race. Here are five of them:

The Car of Today

The newest version of NASCAR’s “stock” race car was rolled out last year and was used in 16 races — but this weekend it will have its racing debut on a 1.5-mile speedway. Based on its performance Sunday and Monday at the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., the new car — with its distinctive front splitter and rear wing — should result in better racing at a track that too often has featured single-file racing.

“The side-by-side (racing) seems to be excellent and the draft that you get down the straightaways is really good,” Jeff Gordon noted following a two-day test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in January. “I’m hoping that those things create some great passing and overtaking and great racing.”

Tire troubles

Many Cup drivers were up in arms last year as a result of the reconfiguring and repaving of the track and the tire package Goodyear brought to Las Vegas to counter the new racing surface. Just as a fine wine improves with age, the speedway’s surface will be better this weekend after a year’s worth of weathering and use by the local driving schools.

“When we were out here for the test, it was already 50 percent better than it was last year,” said Steve Letarte, Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. “There will still probably be a few complaints this year but probably less than there were (last year), and I think in another year it’ll be as good as new (before the repaving).”

Kyle Busch

Busch, a Las Vegas native, clearly has been a man on a mission since the season opened two weeks ago in Daytona, Fla. Busch, who was let go by Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr., apparently is out to prove that team owner Rick Hendrick made a mistake.

Acknowledged as one of the most talented drivers in the Sprint Cup Series garage, Busch has fourth-place finishes in the first two Cup races this season, two runner-up finishes in the Nationwide Series events and a win and a second in two Truck Series races.

Look for Busch to score Toyota’s maiden victory in the Cup Series on Sunday.

Kurt Busch

Kyle’s older brother has said for years that a victory in his hometown race would mean as much as a Daytona 500 win. In seven career starts, Busch got the starting part down — his average starting position is 5.7 — but has had mixed results in the race.

He finished ninth in 2004 and third (to Kyle) in 2005 but struggled to a 26th-place showing last season.

Jimmie Johnson

It’s no secret why Johnson is the favorite among the local oddsmakers to win Sunday’s race: He’s won the past three races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he is coming off a strong performance in California, where he was the runner-up to Carl Edwards, and — oh, yeah — he is the two-time defending series champion.

Johnson’s 10 victories last season set the pace among Sprint Cup drivers.