FanHouse LasVegasMotorSpeedway

Prior to the 2009 season, an outlandish guess would have been picking a car from Michael Waltrip Racing to be fifth in points after three races.

No, that's not a slight to the organization. It's just that previous success wouldn't exactly lend to such results.

MWR's David Reutimann, however, isn't afraid to buck that trend -- as was clear after he earned his best career finish last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The record will show that Kyle Busch started first and finished first in Sunday's Sprint Cup Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But thanks to an engine problem early in the race weekend, it wasn't quite that easy for Busch to score his first win of 2009.

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Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray has been under the weather since last Wednesday thanks to a nasty bout with the flu.

Throughout the Las Vegas race weekend, he made several trips to the infield care center for drugs and IV's after previous medications didn't quite work and before the race, he wondered aloud if he could stay focused and on top of his game during throughout the day.

Well, on lap 66 of the 285-lap Shelby 427, McMurray got a major wake-up call.

Less than a lap into Sunday's Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Matt Kenseth's chance to make NASCAR history went up in smoke.

As did the chances for victory for David Ragan and Mark Martin after both of their engines expired early in the third race of the season.

The on-track problems weren't just relegated to those with engine problems as many drivers in the Top-10 of the point standings had issues on Sunday.

Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 4:30 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Forecast: Partly Sunny, 75
Distance: 285 laps (427.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Kyle Busch
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards



Vegas pole winner Kyle Busch was one of five Toyota drivers to suffer engine problems during Friday's first practice, and Toyota Racing Development boss Lee White wasn't pleased.

Did you get a chance to catch that Nationwide Series race from Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon?

When the checkers fell, Greg Biffle was left out front -- literally, as just 10 cars finished on the lead lap -- to snap his 76-race drought of winning in the series.

But in between, the 209 laps that made up the Sam's Town 300 turned out to be quite hairy for a number of drivers.

For the second week in a row, the Sprint Cup pole winner will start in the back.

Last week in California, Brian Vickers' engine change sent him to the back, and this week in Sin City, Kyle Busch will follow suit.

And Busch's Camry engine wasn't the only of the Toyota camp to go sour on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, either.

Tony Stewart has to be excited about that headline.

Wednesday brought good news to any race fan who already has tickets to the Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March of 2009.

The track, thanks to a new race-naming sponsorship from Shelby Automobiles (the company created and ran by Carroll Shelby, a legend in the sports car world), will now name the race the Shelby 427. And I promise, 427 wasn't just a randomly picked number:

The Sprint Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1, 2009 will be sponsored by Shelby Automobiles. The event will be lengthened to 427 miles and will be called the "Shelby 427."

Together, LVMS and Shelby will market a Las Vegas Motor Speedway Limited Edition Shelby 427 package for the Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang.

Interesting. A "Las Vegas Motor Speedway Limited Edition Shelby 427 package" is certainly a mouthful, but more importantly, that's going to be one big emblem to slap on the rear end of a mustang. LXi or Limited apparently was not available.

This package will be available to 427 previous Shelby GT500 owners on a first-come first-serve basis, and will include Carroll Shelby's autograph, race tickets and a chance at being the race's honorary starter. For more info on that, check out the LVMS web site.

Carl Edwards' No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford may have won the UAW-Dodge 400 last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but NASCAR rained down heavily with penalties on Wednesday.

All of the fines and penalties come directly from Edwards' No. 99 failing post-race inspection due to a oil tank cover not in its correct position.

Edwards' Penalties Include:

• 100 driver points
• 100 owner points
• 10-point Chase bonus for winning a race
• Six week suspension for crew chief Bob Osbourne
  
• $100,000 fine for Osbourne
• Probation until Dec. 31 for Osbourne

The penalties given are quite similar to those the Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon faced for Car of Tomorrow violations in 2007.

The penalty drops Edwards from first in the point standings to seventh, taking him out of first points lead in his Sprint Cup career.

It wasn't a particularly good weekend at Las Vegas for former champions of the Sprint Cup series in the UAW-Dodge 400.

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett, and Matt Kenseth all had trouble at some point during the event that saw a record 11 cautions.

Defending two-time champion Jimmie Johnson was just horrendous all day.

The highest-finishing past champ was Bobby Labonte in the 17th-position. The rest are counted down by their finishing position:

20th - Matt Kenseth, No. 17 USG Sheetrock Ford

Kenseth had a very decent run going Sunday and looked to be the more-dominant of the Roush Fenway group through the middle parts of the race. His trouble came after contact with Gordon off of turn 2 with four laps remaining.