Five Things: Busch Bros. go 1-2
LAS VEGAS – Practice? Who needs practice?
Just four laps into practice on Friday, Kyle Busch blew his engine. Not exactly the homecoming the Las Vegas native was hoping for in preparation for Sunday's Shelby 427.
No matter.
Despite getting only those four laps of practice in before qualifying, Busch went out and set the track record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Second-fastest was his brother, Kurt Busch, marking the first time brothers qualified 1-2 since Rusty and Kenny Wallace did it in 2000.
Kyle Busch still will have to start at the back of the field. Per NASCAR rules, if you change an engine, you automatically start at the back of the field.
Here's what else we learned Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
1. Hendrick Motorsports has isolated the reason for the engine issues they experienced in last Sunday's Auto Club 500.
Broken valve springs led to the engine issues Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin suffered last week at California. Neither Jimmie Johnson nor Jeff Gordon had the parts in their engines, according to Johnson.
"It's frustrating on that part because there is no way to X-ray valve spring and components beforehand to find impurities," Johnson said. "Once something breaks, you can get in there and look at it, and it's pretty easy at that point for our guys to know what went on. But it's frustrating on the front side. We develop components for months and months on end and endurance test them, and then you get a batch that comes in that has some contaminant in it and you have a failure. It's just one of the risks that are out there."
2. There is some anxiety in the Richard Childress camp following the Auto Club 500.
Prior to the season, Jeff Burton acknowledged the entire Richard Childress Racing organization was anxious to see if the work they'd done in the offseason was enough to catch up with the other super teams, namely Hendrick Motorsports. Last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, the first real test of the season, two-thirds of the Richard Childress Racing crew came up short.
While Kevin Harvick looked solid before suffering a fatal engine blow, Burton and Clint Bowyer never were a factor.
"It's a little tense," Burton said. "There's certainly a little bit of anxiety, without a doubt.
"I think we learned a lot, running the way we did," he continued. "Hate to learn that way, but if we'd gone out there and run 12th, then we'd be fine-tuning things instead of going after it and changing a lot."
3. Keep an eye on Kurt Busch.
The 2004 champion who has had hard times the last few seasons continues to be impressive in 2009. Busch, who goes into Sunday's race sitting third in the standings, qualified on the front row, next to his younger brother.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway hasn't been that great in the past for the Vegas native. In eight starts, Kurt Busch has just two top-10s at his hometown track.
4. Michael Waltrip is a lot happier today than he was one year ago.
"[Last week] at California, I just prayed every day prior to going out there that I wouldn't run last because it was that bad at Miami the last race of the year last year, and it was that bad at California [last year]," Waltrip said Friday. "I think I passed more cars by lap 5 at California this past race than I had the past three years. So it was a big, big deal to be competitive, and now I'm a little bit more confident coming to Vegas."
Prior to the season, Waltrip, who hasn't finished better than 29th in the standings since starting his own team three years ago, said he would retire if things don't get better this season. He's currently seventh in the standings.
5. Toyota is having engine issues.
Five Toyotas – Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, Scott Speed and Marcos Ambrose – changed engines prior to qualifying.
All will have to start at the back of the field.
The issue stems from a coating issue on a Toyota part. Though the engine Kyle Busch uses is made in a different shop than the others, they do use the same parts.
