‘Rookies’ Roll Dice for Las Vegas Race

Crap tables, slot machines and free drinks can’t keep NASCAR fans from watching their heroes go round and round on Sundays.

More than 140,000 of the faithful will leave the casinos for a few hours today to sit in on the $4-million CarsDirect.com 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, third event of the 36-race Winston Cup schedule.

An intriguing blend of rookies and experience gives the 43-car field a different look, but in the end the 400-mile race may be a mirror image of Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 Busch Grand National race in which Ford Taurus teammates, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin, finished ahead of a sea of Chevrolets.

Two rookies, former Indy car veteran Scott Pruett and third-generation driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., will start second and third. And the man on the pole, Ricky Rudd, says he feels like a rookie driving a Ford for Robert Yates after years of struggling with his own underfinanced team.

Rudd set a qualifying record of 172.563 mph Friday to take the No. 1 starting position. Pruett, in his third Winston Cup event after nine years in CART, was a tick behind at 172.381.

“It’s a funny feeling, being called a rookie, because it seems almost strange to me,” said Pruett, who will turn 41 in two weeks. “I’ve raced a long time, a lot of different series and have a lot of experiences, but it’s a different world in NASCAR.”

Earnhardt Jr. has the highest profile among a group of rookie candidates, but he tries to deflect the pressure put on him as the son of a seven-time champion, even though he won the last two Busch championships.

“I think it’s somewhat intimidating for me or Matt [Kenseth] to be able to compete as a rookie, not the age difference, but the experience difference,” Earnhardt said. “Still, Vegas is a place where longshots pay off sometimes, and that’s what we are, longshots. But the 99 and 6 cars will be hard to beat. They always are here.”

The 99 is Burton and the 6 is Martin, both driving for Jack Roush and both former Las Vegas winners, Burton last year and Martin in the 1998 inaugural.

Martin, 41, says that he and other over-40 drivers such as Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and the senior Earnhardt are not ready to hand over the baton to the younger generation, noting that experience counts more in Winston Cup than in any other form of racing.

“I think if we were racing Formula One or Indy cars, I think we’d be out of a job,” he said. “That’s a place where experience can’t overcome enthusiasm and bravery if it’s associated with youth.”

Earnhardt was not pleased with the driving of three-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who at 28 is younger than six of the eight rookie candidates. The two tangled in practice Saturday, sending Gordon into the wall.

“He just got into me and got in the wall,” snapped Earnhardt, who will start 33rd today. “He got into me. I didn’t get into him. It knocked the nose in on our car, but we’ll be OK. We have a long way to go to win, but I think the car will be good enough to do it.”

As expected, Gordon saw it differently: “Me and Earnhardt got together and I got in the wall. That’s all that happened. The guys worked on the car and we’ll be ready to race.”

Burton and Martin put on a spectacular finish before a surprising Saturday crowd of 81,000 in the Sam’s Town 300.

After losing a lap because a gas canister stuck to his car in a pit stop, Martin battled back to take the lead. With three laps remaining, he was still ahead when Jack Sprague spun in front of him. Even though Martin made a crash-saving move to avoid Sprague, he lost enough momentum to allow Burton to get the lead and the victory under the yellow flag.

“We had a great run and good pit strategy, but we didn’t make it to the finish line,” Martin said.

Today’s Race

* What: CarsDirect.com 400

* When: 11:30 a.m.

* TV: Channel 7

* Site: Las Vegas Motor Speedway