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March 29, 2024

NASCAR:

Oh Brother! Busch brothers qualify 1-2 for Sunday’s Shelby 427 at LVMS

NASCAR Qualifying Day

Steve Marcus

Brothers Kurt, left, and Kyle Busch talk after qualifying runs at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday, February 27, 2009. The Las Vegas natives qualified 1-2 for Sunday’s Shelby 427.

Updated Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 | 11:51 p.m.

NASCAR Qualifying Day

Kyle Busch stands in as best man as Damon Landry and Heather Wilson are wed by track chaplain Bruce Brown after qualifying for the Shelby 427 Sprint Cup race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday, February 27, 2009. Landry and Wilson were in the middle of their wedding ceremony in winner's circle when Busch arrived for a photo session. When Busch noticed the ceremony taking place, he left the photographers and stood in as best man for Landry. Launch slideshow »

Sprint for Kids

The Sprint for Kids Challenge was held at Pole Position Raceway in Las Vegas Thursday, February 26, 2009. Busch and other NASCAR celebrities participated in the team endurance kart race to benefit the Kurt Busch Foundation.

Shelby 427 Qualifying

  • 1. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 185.995 mph
  • 2. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 185.707
  • 3. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 185.688
  • 4. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 185.624
  • 5. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 185.459
  • 6. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 185.395
  • 7. (9) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 185.382
  • 8. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 185.312
  • 9. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 185.28
  • 10. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 185.217.
  • Complete Results

Despite all of their combined success in various racing formats over the years, the Las Vegas-based Busch brothers did something they've never done before Friday — qualify 1-2.

But the two hometown heroes won't get the chance to fight it out of the first turn at the track they grew up on Sunday afternoon as younger bro, Kyle, blew a motor during Friday's early practice session and will have to drop to the back of the pack per NASCAR rules after swapping engines before qualifying.

"Unfortunately for myself, I won't be in the cool photo next to my brother at the drop of the green flag," said Kyle Busch, who celebrated his Las Vegas Motor Speedway qualifying record lap of 29.033 seconds at 185.995 mph by stepping into the position of best man for Damon Landry in his wedding to Heather Wilson that was taking place in Victory Lane.

"I've only done that one other time for this guy, over here," continued Busch, pointing to his older brother, Kurt, during his post qualifying media session. "Mine definitely won't be coming any soon."

Kurt, who came in second with a fast lap of 185.707 mph said, don't be so sure: "I saw your girlfriend in the back catching the bouquet.

The two siblings who cut their racing teeth on the nearby by LVMS Bullring said that even though they won't match up with one another in the starting grid, that doesn't mean they couldn't put on an exciting show for their fans for the checkered flag.

"It would have been great to go after it and see who would leave the first lap, but you can't get caught up in all that," said Kurt, who along with Kyle became the first brothers since Rusty and Kenny Wallace swept the front row at Martinsville in 2000 to qualify 1-2.

"That would be the fun show for us to duke it out at the end of the race like we did in qualifying."

Reigning three-time Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson slides into the front row as he came in third with a time of 29.081 seconds.

"We are better here especially compared to last year and how bad we were here," said Johnson, who took three races in a row from 2005-07 at the 1.5-mile, tri-oval track. "This is a nice surprise. It was a good lap, definitely a solid lap. Maybe a little too comfortable, but we went a lot faster than we did in practice and I am very proud of the effort we put in. Hopefully, we've got everything right and where it needs to be come Sunday."

Kyle Busch obviously didn't have things aligned at first, but he wasn't the only one. David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose qualified fourth and fifth respetively, but also had to change motors and will drop to the back of the field. Brian Vickers, who won the pole last week at California but had to forfeit it because of an engine change, and his teammate Scott Speed also switched engines again Friday as did all five Toyota teams.

"I don't have any idea," Busch said of the motor problems. "The M&M's Toyota guys worked their butts to change the engine and get us back up there. I wish we were starting up front so maybe we could get five bonus points early but unfortunately that's not the case.

"We'll have to battle on through there and pass everybody if we can. We've just got to take what's been given to us and try to battle it out on Sunday. The big check comes after the leader of the last lap, not the first lap."

Another battle for both Busch brothers is managing their limited time with requests from family, friends, and of course, pesky media members.

“We’re busy with a lot of appearances,” Kurt said. "I’ve got friends of mine like Don Prudhomme (NHRA owner) calling looking for tickets at the last minute. Guys like Ron White (comedian) in town tonight. Just a busy schedule.”

But one the Durango High School graduate welcomes, as long as he can keep his mind on the main objective.

“It’s really exciting with all the things going on,” Kurt said. “Just trying to get caught up with everybody and keeping track of the main focus which is the race car.”

As has been the case early this season, Kurt got off to a fast start back in his hometown — winning his own charity event Friday night at Pole Position Raceway.

“We had a five-lap advantage at the end and we won,” said Kurt of the inaugural Sprint for Kids race, which raised $25,000 for the Kurt Busch foundation.

“The money that was raised was fantastic in this type of economy and supporting that type of initiative. We’re looking forward to using this event as a spring board for better things to come here in the Las Vegas Valley.”

Including this weekend as the 30-year-old looks to keep his hot start going and aims at his first-ever victory at LVMS.

“I’m looking forward to a good run this weekend. I feel like last weekend was a good boost for our team,” said Kurt, who finished fifth last weekend at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana, Calif.

“Having that excitement heading into our hometown just gets us pumped up for hopefully good things this weekend.”

While the season is just two races old, Busch currently sits in third place in the points standings behind Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth, who won both the Daytona 500 and Auto Club 500.

“When you have two good races to start, you hope to have three, four, five, as many as you can have,” Kurt said. “I believe that it’s always five to seven races before you can really gauge with an ‘up’ arrow or ‘down’ arrow next to it.”

The 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion credits much of his success this season because of some tough times he endured last year.

“We weren’t part of the Chase, but it gave us a chance to experiment and throw some big darts at the wall and see which ones were going to stick,” said Kurt, who won the Lenox Tools 300 in New Hampshire last June.

“So we compiled all those ideas. Right now, it’s way too early to talk championship, but we’re trying to be the smartest that we can and use our decisions from last year to help us.”

Andy Samuelson can be reached at [email protected] or 702-948-7837.

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