Las Vegas Motor Speedway received a face lift of epic proportions over the past calendar year, increasing the banking in the turns from 12 to 20 degrees and adding six degrees of banking on the backstretch – from three to nine.
How will this translate? We’ll have to wait until Saturday’s Busch Series Sam’s Town 300 to find out, but one thing is for sure - it’ll be fast.
If February’s NASCAR Busch Series testing at Las Vegas is any indication, look for speeds to increase by as much as 12 mph faster than last year’s mark taken during final practice for the 2006 Sam’s Town 300. The speeds in race conditions are another story. Last September, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series raced at the newly renovated track and the speeds increased considerably. For instance, Tim Fedewa had a top average speed of 162.242 mph on the frontstretch during the 2005 race at the “old†LVMS. Last year, at the “new trackâ€, Ted Musgrave had the top average speed in the frontstretch at 176.820 mph.
Figure the same to hold true for the NASCAR Busch Series race. Also figure that those drivers who have excelled in the past at Las Vegas will continue to do so. It happened for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers, as Ted Musgrave, Mike Skinner, and Jack Sprague all earned top-10 Driver Ratings in both 2005 and 2006 versions.
If the same holds true, look for Roush Fenway Racing drivers to run near the top. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards earned top-six Driver Ratings over the past two years at Las Vegas.
Another driver to watch for is David Stremme. In last year’s third-place finish at Las Vegas, Stremme earned a 112.5 Driver Rating and top-three speeds in Turns 2, 3, and 4. He also has the most Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 while under green) over the past two years with 36. More impressive, he’s earned that amount in just one race.
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