Off-Week Blues

Just two weeks into the new Nextel Cup Series, we racing fans have been hit with the worst possible thing, an off week. News is slow, and the best we have to look forward to this weekend is the Busch Series race in Mexico City. Hopefully, we can help fill some of the void that exists with a little information on next week's UAW DaimlerChrysler 400.

Run at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the 2005 UAW DC 400 is the 8th race in the series. It has also been known as the Las Vegas 400 ('98 and '99) and the CarsDirect.com 400 (2000).

In the 2004 race Matt Kenseth came from 25th place to edge out Pole winner Kasey Kahne by just over 3.4 seconds. Winning the race from fairly far back in the starting field is not uncommon at Las Vegas. In fact, of the seven races to date, the only winner to start in the top 10 was Mark Martin back in the first race in 1998. In 1999 and 2000, Jeff Burton won after starting 19th and 11th respectively. In 2001 Jeff Gordon started 24th as did Sterling Marlin in 2002. In Kenseth's 1st victory in 2003 he started in 17th position.

The fastest average speed in the seven previous races was 146.554 mph in 1998 while the slowest was 119.982 back in 2000. The largest victory margin was in 2003 as Matt Kenseth defeated Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 9.104 seconds. The smallest was in 1998 when Mark Martin beat Ward Burton by only 1.074 seconds.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is considered and Intermediate Track (as opposed to Restrictor-Plate, Short, Flat or Road races). It will present an interesting challenge with the 1/2 inch reduction in the rear spoiler height this year. In the last three years, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Kasey Kahne have had the best overall intermediate track records.