Some drivers fear Nextel Cup race tomorrow will be a disaster

Jeff Burton nudged a spinning Kyle Busch out of the way and crossed the finish line Saturday to win a chaotic, caution-marred Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Complaints about the reconfigured track and the hard tires Goodyear has provided then dominated the postrace conversation, as drivers warned the Nextel Cup race on Sunday could be a disaster.

“The race will suck,” said Kevin Harvick, who finished seventh. “The paving is awful. It’s rough. They had some guys that pave parking lots out there doing it. It’s pretty awful.”

Las Vegas officials repaved the track during the offseason and increased the banking from 12 degrees to 20 as track owner Bruton Smith sought to improve the competition. But it made speeds extremely high, forcing Goodyear to bring a hard left tire that Matt Kenseth called “treacherous” to the track.

Greg Biffle said it felt like he was driving on black ice, and Kasey Kahne said every lap is a fight to keep the car from wrecking.

The race winner said the drivers were all right, but also defended Goodyear.

“They are all right. I am not disagreeing with any of them,” Burton said. “The question is, ‘What would you do different?’ We don’t live in a perfect world. I am not saying the tires are perfect. They are not. It is treacherous. Restarts are a mess. Driving underneath someone is very difficult.

“But what are you going to do? Put your head in the sand and pretend there’s not a problem? They had to come here with a tire that could run a whole race without having a problem. You can’t come to a racetrack knowing you are going to have tire problems and not do something about it.”

The Busch race was marred by a record 12 cautions for 58 laps, and the postrace debate overshadowed a spectacular finish that denied Busch a victory on his home track.

Contact between Burton and Busch as the two cars approached the checkered flag sent Busch into a spin, and he crossed the finish line backward before shooting up the track and into the wall. He still finished second.

The Las Vegas native took turns dominating the race with his older brother, Kurt, and was out front when Burton took the lead away from him with 13 laps to go.

But the 12th caution brought out the red flag to clean up debris from an accident, preventing Burton from running away with the win. Racing resumed with seven laps to go, and Kyle Busch slipped past Burton a lap later to retake the win.

Burton nearly lost control of his car as he came out of the fourth turn and used a huge save to keep it off the wall. But he lost ground to Kyle Busch and had to hustle to close the gap.

He finally got to him on the last lap, and used all of it to make his move.

Burton went for it as they exited the last turn, pulling to the top of the track and making the pass on the outside. Kyle Busch wiggled slightly and his car bounced off Burton’s to start his spin across the finish line.

“Couldn’t hold the bottom. Couldn’t hold the top. Couldn’t hold him off,” a frustrated Busch said as he walked away from his damaged race car.

“He beat me fair and square. He got a run on me on the topside and I tried to block it, I just didn’t get high enough in order to squeeze him in the fence. Congratulations to those guys, they had a better car definitely at the end.”

Burton drove to Kyle Busch’s damaged car, saw Busch had already exited it and followed him. Busch then went up to the window and shook hands with Burton.

AP/USA Today

RESULTS:

Pos St # Driver Sponsor Car Pts Status Laps

1 6 29 Jeff Burton Holiday Inn Chevrolet 190 Running 200
2 20 5 Kyle Busch Delphi Chevrolet 180 Running 200
3 17 33 Tony Stewart Old Spice Chevrolet 170 Running 200
4 4 12 Kurt Busch Penske Truck Rental Dodge 165 Running 200
5 2 22 David Stremme Supercuts Dodge 155 Running 200
6 19 60 Carl Edwards Dish Network Ford 155 Running 200
7 1 21 Kevin Harvick Autozone Chevrolet 151 Running 200
8 30 77 Bobby Labonte Dollar General Chevrolet 142 Running 200
9 37 88 Shane Huffman Navy Chevrolet 138 Running 200
10 14 59 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford/Bush’s Baked Beans Ford 139 Running 200
11 32 47 Jon Wood Clorox/American Red Cross Ford 130 Running 200
12 16 20 Denny Hamlin Rockwell Automation Chevrolet 127 Running 200
13 33 7 Mike Wallace GEICO Chevrolet 129 Running 200
14 22 35 Bobby Hamilton Jr. McDonald’s Ford 121 Running 200
15 29 27 Ward Burton Scott Extra Soft Ford 118 Running 200
16 24 87 Joe Nemechek Brunton Vineyards Chevrolet 115 Running 198
17 12 66 Steve Wallace WizeTrade Dodge 112 Running 198
18 23 90 Stephen Leicht citifinancial Ford 109 Running 198
19 36 1 J.J. Yeley Miccosukee Resort Chevrolet 111 Running 198
20 35 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge 103 Running 196
21 38 34 Jay Sauter DealTaker.com Chevrolet 100 Running 196
22 43 70 Justin Diercks Foretravel Chevrolet 97 Running 196
23 34 28 Jeff Green DaytonaBrands.com Chevrolet 94 Running 195
24 41 6 David Ragan Discount Tire Ford 91 Running 195
25 9 10 Dave Blaney Camping World Toyota 88 Running 194
26 42 0 Eric McClure Hefty Chevrolet 85 Running 194
27 39 14 Kyle Krisiloff Clabber Girl Baking Powder Ford 82 Running 192
28 10 9 Kasey Kahne Wisk Dodge 84 Accident 189
29 15 37 Jamie McMurray Yardman Ford 76 Accident 189
30 3 41 Reed Sorenson Wrigley Dodge 73 Accident 189
31 25 99 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 70 Running 180
32 26 25 David Gilliland Freecreditreport.com Ford 67 Running 175
33 18 4 Regan Smith Ginn Racing Chevrolet 69 Accident 172
34 31 23 Brad Keselowski Oklahoma Centennial Chevrolet 61 Running 171
35 27 18 Brad Coleman Z-Line Designs Chevrolet 58 Running 147
36 13 15 Paul Menard Menard’s Chevrolet 55 Accident 132
37 28 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Toyota 52 Accident 123
38 11 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 49 Accident 116
39 21 36 Brent Sherman Big Lots Chevrolet 51 Accident 63
40 7 17 Matt Kenseth Arby’s Ford 43 Accident 12
41 5 2 Clint Bowyer BB&T Corp. Chevrolet 40 Accident 12
42 8 24 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet 37 Accident 12
43 40 85 Brett Rowe Dollhouse Fashion Gallery Chevrolet 34 Accident 3

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